Lonato Signs One-Year Contract with Garda Uno for Sewer and Purification Services
A new agreement for the management of the sewerage and purification services has been signed in recent days between Comune di Lonato and Azienda Garda Uno. From now on, the consortium company of Portese will manage the sewer and purification network in Lonato.
The total cost is approximately 315 million lire per year, of which 235 million are allocated for purification and just over 50 million for sewerage: VAT must also be added to these amounts. The company will guarantee uninterrupted availability of personnel even on public holidays, deploy mobile units for on-call services, and perform rescue operations in case of emergencies.
Systematic, periodic, and scheduled inspections of all networks, along with maintenance of the plants using specific equipment, will also be ensured. «The duration of the agreement,» explains Mayor Morando Perini, «is short, just one year: we made it as an experiment. Then, if everything goes well, and the service meets our expectations, we are open to extending it.» The contract will expire on June 30, 2002.
Advantages for Citizens and Reasons for the Assignment
But what are the benefits for citizens? Will there be tariff reductions? «Reductions are not expected. There will certainly be an improvement in the service, as happens with water and gas; thus, citizens will continue to receive bills from the Comune, but the tariff set by law remains unchanged,» he states.
Why did the Comune commission Garda Uno? «Because,» Perini explains, «Lonato owns 11 percent of the consortium shares, but in the past, it had never delegated any service to the company. We faced a crossroads: either continue participating in the Consorzio and pay the annual fee of 160 million lire without receiving anything in return, or entrust it with management of certain services. We chose the second option.»
«Furthermore, Garda Uno also carries out project planning for works such as sewer networks. From our side,» resumes the mayor of Lonato, «there is the intention to leverage the Portese company, to which we pay a substantial annual contribution. An additional extremely useful aspect for the municipal administration is the possibility of obtaining project plans for works in much shorter terms than currently.»
Indeed, since the Comune di Lonato is a shareholder, tenders are issued by Garda Uno itself, resulting in significant savings of time and money. «A bureaucratic streamlining,» concludes Perini, «beneficial in every way, with advantages also for citizens.» The management under this agreement has already been initiated.
Among the initial plans are the revision of the sewer network and the study for potential expansion, as well as control and checks on the inflow and outflow of the treatment plant and on sludge. As is known, Lonato also features a strip of territory on the lake, located between the tip of Vo in Desenzano and the Comune di Padenghe.
This strip, however, is heavily occupied by bathing establishments, nautical sector companies, a marina and private moorings, and one of the most beautiful coastlines in lower Garda.
