Applications for grants for the repair or reconstruction of buildings damaged by the 2016 earthquake, which hit Marche, Umbria, Abruzzo and Lazio, amount to over 20,000 and concern 50,000 residential real estate units and 1,150 production properties. The amount requested is € 5.4 billion. The approved requests are over 10 thousand and in the first six months of 2021 over 1,100 construction sites have been completed. Since the start of the reconstruction, 5 thousand interventions on buildings have been completed, with 12 thousand residential units inside them, work is underway on another 5 thousand construction sites, for 13 thousand additional homes. These are the numbers contained in the third Report on the state of reconstruction in the four regions affected by the 2016-2017 earthquakes, presented at a press conference by the extraordinary commissioner for reconstruction,Giovanni Legnini, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the first earthquake of 24 August that devastated Amatrice, Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto.
"The simplification and the new procedures, first of all the ordinance 100 and the introduction of the extraordinary reconstruction programs, have de facto unblocked a situation of paralysis. In the last year, one third of the total requests for contributions were presented, and approved half of the applications, with the concession of 2.7 billion euros, with an acceleration that was accentuated in 2021 ", explained the commissioner. He added that the reconstruction is in a "mature phase, even if it is affected by the risks due to the market dynamics also induced by the pandemic. The pace acquired between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 in the opening of new construction sites, suffered a slowdown in the spring due to the increase in the prices of building materials, which it faced,recently, raising the amount of the contribution ". In addition, many construction companies and professionals are committed to the 110% super bonus, so much so that Legnini himself has launched an appeal to companies and technicians:" Come and work on the reconstruction of Central Italy affected by seismic events of 2016 and 2017 so that reconstruction does not slow down ".
"I tell you that you can trust the procedures, the funding available and the governance structured today - he added -. We must maintain the pace that reconstruction has taken in recent months, if we succeed in this, in a few years we will see very important results". The report also highlights that public reconstruction, after years of stagnation, is also accelerating. In the first six months of 2021, the interventions recorded substantial progress. The expenditure, in this period, was 144 million euros - in the whole of 2020 the expenditure was 62 million euros - bringing the total to 411 million euros. The public works financed by the Ordinances are over 2,600. Legnini also recalled that in 2021 "the special ordinances for the reconstruction of the most destroyed villages have seen the light ".