Page 67 - Impiantistica Italiana Maggio Giugno 2014

what could be done better at
the beginning of the project in
term of public communication
and involvement of local social
stakeholders.
We want to put in evidence
that when some groups of
local public stakeholders start
to oppose to a project and
their interests or fears are not
considered or neglected, and in
case the public communication
by the project owners is missing,
the situation may become very
critical.
The opposition to the High
Speed Railway Turin Lyon Project
by No-TAV in the years became
very strong and violent. It was
executed through public struggle
that in the years were publically
reported by all media and
newspapers. As consequence
of this exposure to media also
anarchy and insurrection groups
Fig. 1 - High Speed Railway • reducing disparities between the regions joined the struggle to participate in violent
foreseen in the Trans-European and linking island, landlocked and demonstrations of opposition to the Italian
Networks - Transport (TEN-T) peripheral regions to the central regions of Government.
the Community; In this situation the public perception of the
• limit CO releases; project was mainly focused on such public violent
2
• promote safety in transportation. demonstrations and the original discussion on
The High Speed Railway Turin Lyon is the the possible social benefts of the project versus
central link in the network of the the interests or fears of Susa Valley inhabitants
North-South “mediterranean” disappeared as subject of public interest. As
In the case of the Corridor 6 and of the East-West other consequence of all this opposition the
High Speed Railway Corridor 5. It will link south and project was also strongly delayed and now the
Turin Lyon Project east of Europe to West and expectation is that it can be completed on 2030
the Project Owners Central Europe (fgure 1). being started in the 1990’s.
are the Italian and Despite these important In the case of the High Speed Railway Turin
Lyon Project the Project Owners are the Italian
social objectives the project
French Governments was challenged by groups of and French Governments which are executing
which are executing inhabitants of the Susa Valley, through the project an EU transport strategy.
through the project where the railway route was They represent the public general interest and
an EU transport entering in a 57 km long tunnel they are politically supporting the Project.
strategy. connecting Italy and France. In Projects where the Project Owner is a
private Company a negative management
This opposition resulted in the
They represent creation of the so called No- outcome due to social issues can affect
the public general TAV organization (from Italian both the political support to the project from
interest and they are defnition Treno Alta Velocità, High the local Authorities and the overall project
politically supporting Speed Railway). The No-TAV execution targets. The Company ability to
the Project organization started to operate manage such complex situations will be
exposed to the public knowledge through
in 1995 and nowadays is still
opposing the project execution. the interpretation of media and newspapers.
The rationale of the challenge is a Negative results in important projects can
mixture of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) reasons destroy the image and the reputation of the
and of technical and economic considerations Company. Therefore, the ability in Social
that contradict the benefts declared by the Management and in Public Communication is
project. very important to correctly interface the social
We don’t want in this article to enter in the stakeholders and positively communicate the
disputed subjects or in considerations about project objectives and social targets.

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