Finance-savvy Rome mayor has $13.8b to revamp Eternal City

BLOOMBERG

Rome’s mayor is betting an unprecedented investment surge will help the Eternal City present a more modern face to the world.
Roberto Gualtieri, a former finance minister, has secured €13 billion ($13.8 billion) in national and European funding over four years to spruce up the Italian capital, after it lost ground to Milan and other European centers in terms of appeal to businesses and tourists.
“We are undertaking the greatest investment program of the last decade to modernize the city,” the mayor said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on March 10. The goal, according to Gualtieri, is “to make the city not only efficient, in terms of ordinary services, that were a bit lagging behind in the last years, but also to put it at the forefront of the challenges of digitalization, technological innovation, sustainability.”
In recent years Rome has suffered from lack of investment with spending falling to as low as €100 million per year. That failure to revamp infrastructure compounded long-standing problems such as traffic snarl-ups, trash piling up in the streets, a lack of cycling lanes and deficient public transport.
By comparison, Milan, Italy’s fast-growing financial capital, has attracted investment by restoring abandoned areas of the city and is now a top destination for bankers, fund managers and private equity fleeing London in the wake of Brexit. A key turning point for Milan was hosting the World Expo in 2015, which attracted about €1 billion for urban regeneration and spurred housing demand from students and young workers.

Stars Aligned    

Gualtieri says he’s convinced Rome now benefits from a unique “alignment of stars” to guide efforts to regenerate the city.
As well as funding and special planning powers bestowed by the national government, the capital can also tap money from the European Union’s post-pandemic fund and resources for organizing a Catholic Jubilee year in 2025.