It will cost 82 million euros to equip 46 hectares, where 3.8 million cubic meters of lagoon sediments will be accumulated. It will be located, with a series of prescriptions, in the lagoon area south of the island of Tresse
Venice – The National EIA Commission has expressed a favorable opinion, with a series of prescriptions, for the project of the new Venetian site where dredged sediments will be disposed, located in the lagoon area south of the Island of Tresse, along the Malamocco-Marghera canal. As written by the Port System Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea, “this is a decisive step for the realization of an essential intervention to ensure the continuity of maintenance dredging, navigation safety and the implementation of works affecting the port system and the cities of Venice and Chioggia”.
The project is the result of an institutional agreement, formalized in August 2023 by the Venice Cruise Commissioner, which involved the AdSP, the Special Commissioner Montesyndial and the Public Works Office in the functions of the former Water Authority. The goal is to provide the Lagoon with a new space dedicated to the management of materials resulting from excavations, overcoming the capacity criticalities related to historical sites and guaranteeing a time horizon of at least 15 years.
The new site will cost 82 million euros to equip about 46 hectares, where 3.8 million cubic meters of lagoon sediments will be accumulated. The area guarantees full impermeability towards the lagoon and “will receive non-hazardous lagoon sediments, in accordance with the current regulations on the handling of dredged materials and the chemical, ecotoxicological and environmental prescriptions defined by the current Sludge Protocol”, specifies the Authority.
The opinion of the EIA Commission comes after the modifications to the project made in August, based on the observations produced by the technical table of the involved entities. The System Authority commits to “fully incorporate the required adjustments and initiate the subsequent phases of the authorization and implementation process”. The project will now be submitted to the Veneto Region for the purpose of an agreement with the Cruise Commissioner. Concurrently, the executive design will begin and finally, the work will be assigned through a public tender.
“We welcome with great satisfaction the positive opinion on the new site for the placement of sediments along the Malamocco-Marghera canal,” declares the President of the AdSP, Matteo Gasparato, speaking of a “fundamental step, which confirms the quality of the work done and the need to equip the port with a modern, safe infrastructure capable of guaranteeing the full operation of our channels. This work is essential for the port and the city: it allows for the maintenance of large navigation channels and supports both commissioner and non-commissioner works that, in the coming years, will give a decisive contribution to the development and competitiveness of the Venetian port system. I hope that, in light of this pronouncement, ideological oppositions to projects that represent concrete tools of compatibility and sustainability between the port and the delicate lagoon environment will finally be archived.”
