Via libera al masterplan di Borgo Nuovo: 30 milioni per piazze, oratori e 100 alloggi, ma la ragioneria avverte sui costi di manutenzione

Green light from the city council for the master plan for the redevelopment of Borgo Nuovo. The executive led by Mayor Roberto Lagalla has approved the latest version of the extraordinary intervention plan written by Commissioner Fabio Ciciliano, which precisely defines the areas of intervention of the project and the expected costs. However, the opinion of the Municipal General Accounting Office led by Bohuslav Basile warns the administration: after carrying out the remediation interventions in Borgo Nuovo, the structures will then become a maintenance burden and it will therefore be necessary to find the resources.

The plan, intended for one of the urban areas included in the so-called “Caivano bis” decree, foresees an investment of about thirty million euros in Palermo, with a first tranche of priority interventions of about twenty million. Among the works that will become operational in the coming months is the renovation of Piazza San Paolo, an intervention costing 1.9 million euros co-financed by the Region for the transformation of the area from asphalted space to pedestrian square, with permeable paving, porticoes, and greenery. Interventions are also planned for Parco Tindari for about one and a half million euros, with pathways in the greenery, lighting systems, the renovation of a shelter, and the construction of a youth center on a single level with an attached sports field. With an expenditure of 1.9 million euros, the master plan also includes the construction of a multi-functional sports center at Largo Gibilmanna. Also planned are two social and cultural aggregation centers and the construction of one hundred social housing units. This last intervention was initially unrelated to the master plan but has been included to create a unified redevelopment project and will be co-financed by the Mit for a total of 3.7 million euros.

According to the analysis contained in the master plan, the neighborhood currently suffers from several critical issues: there is a lack of identity places and spaces for socialization, while some public areas are underutilized or degraded. In this sense, the various revisions of the plan, seven between August 2025 and January 2026, have progressively increased the importance of social facilities (youth center and sports areas) compared to simple green maintenance, to counteract phenomena of illegal occupation and degradation observed during inspections.

The plan approved by the city council has received the green light from the Municipal General Accounting Office, which, however, in its opinion added warnings for the management of municipal assets and budgets. As stated in the document signed by General Accountant Basile, the overall funding of 180 million is entirely the responsibility of the national government but will have indirect consequences on the city's finances.

The implementation of the works, the accounting office writes, "will result in an increase in the value of the entity's real estate assets", which will therefore have to record the works in the inventory and determine the depreciation rates.

Even more importantly, the creation of new infrastructures such as the center at Largo Gibilmanna and the aggregation hubs will inevitably generate fixed costs for management and ordinary maintenance, from the cost of electricity and water to security, and these costs will fall entirely on the Municipality. For this reason, the accounting office manager concludes: "It is the responsibility of management to take into account that every new work must be accompanied by a management sustainability plan that demonstrates how the entity intends to meet future current expenses".