On the French-Italian border, tunnel delays reinforce isolation

This road tunnel constitutes, apart from the railway line on which work is planned next year and a track which only locals can use in the summer, the only access for the inhabitants of Roya to the valley of Vermenagna, Italy, and the large city of Cuneo.

Around 150 residents, according to the gendarmerie, gathered on Saturday in front of the town hall of Tende at the call of elected officials from municipalities close to the Italian border - Tende, La Brigue, Fontan, Saorge and Breil-sur-Roya - accompanied by local parliamentarians. .

These municipalities were among the most affected by the violent storm of October 2020 which left 10 dead and eight missing.

“We want to express our indignation at this scandal that the Tende tunnel has become. We no longer accept this extended construction site and these broken promises, we want the tunnel to open as quickly as possible,” launched Sébastien Olharan , mayor of Breil-sur-Roya and departmental councilor.

In the crosshairs of the valley's elected officials, the Italian public company Anas, operator of the works, accused by the mayor of Tende, Jean-Pierre Vassallo, of being "a state within a state".

Started around ten years ago, the project to double the Tende road tunnel was initially due to be completed in 2017, while the repair of the old tunnel, built in the 2020th century, was to be delivered in XNUMX.

But the project first fell behind schedule in 2017 when the Italian company Fincosit, responsible for the work, saw its contract terminated after the discovery of the theft of 200 tonnes of materials and the indictment by the Italian courts of sixteen people.

Then storm Alex, in October 2020, cut off access to the structure on the French side, preventing access to the old tunnel, which until then operated on an alternating basis.

“We need this road”

Anas indicated on July 31 that it was now considering opening the new tunnel for June 2024, citing "a particularly complex project, burdened by the significant damage caused by storm Alex in October 2020, the difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. XNUMX and, finally, the sharp increase in the cost of materials".

The total cost of the work, initially estimated at 176 million euros, is now 265 million euros. It is supported 58% by Italy and 42% by France.

The valley's elected officials also fear that the company responsible for the work, Edilmaco, will refuse to take charge, as planned, of the redevelopment of the old tunnel. This would condemn residents on either side of the border to only using the new tunnel and, as it is unidirectional, to endure a long 25-minute alternation.

“We need this road, we are fed up, we are stuck because as border workers, we are always between the two countries, to work, to go shopping, to see our families,” Chantal told AFP Béranger, 69, retired executive secretary whose husband, a mountain guide, has to make a long detour through Savona, on the Italian coast, to take clients to Italy.

“The connection is important economically but also psychologically, to combat this feeling of confinement that we have been experiencing since the Alex storm,” maintains Christian Martin, 62, a retired caregiver who also lives in Tend.

The elected officials of Roya will go to Rome on October 6 to the meeting of the Franco-Italian Intergovernmental Commission (CIG) which must take stock of the progress of the work.