TRIESTE – The national VIA Commission (Ministry of Environment and Energy Security) has issued a favourable opinion — with recommendations and conditions — on the project for the new disposal site for dredged sediments, located in the lagoon area south of Isola delle Tresse along the Malamocco–Marghera Canal.
This marks a decisive step towards implementing an essential project to ensure the continuity of maintenance dredging, navigational safety and the execution of both extraordinary and ordinary works affecting the port system and the cities of Venice and Chioggia.
The project stems from an institutional agreement formalised in August 2023 by the Venice Cruise Commissioner, involving the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority, the Montesyndial Special Commissioner and the Public Works Superintendency in its former Magistrato alle Acque functions. The goal is to provide the lagoon with a new site dedicated to managing sediments from maintenance dredging and commissioner-led works, overcoming capacity constraints at historic sites and ensuring operational continuity for at least 15 years.
The new site, worth €82 million and covering around 46 hectares, will have a storage capacity of 3.8 million cubic metres of sediments. The fully enclosed area ensures complete impermeability to the lagoon and will receive non-hazardous lagoon sediments in compliance with regulations on dredged-material management and the requirements of the “Protocollo fanghi”, including chemical, ecotoxicological and environmental standards.
The project will now be submitted to the Veneto Region for the agreement with the Cruise Commissioner required for final approval. At the same time, the executive design phase will begin, incorporating the recommendations and conditions set by the VIA Commission, followed by the awarding of works through a public tender.
«We welcome with great satisfaction the positive opinion of the national VIA Commission on the new site for sediment storage along the Malamocco–Marghera Canal. This is a fundamental step, confirming the quality of the work carried out and the need to equip the port with modern, safe infrastructure capable of ensuring full operability of our channels. The project» commented Matteo Gasparato, President of the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority, «will incorporate the Commission’s recommendations to further align it with required environmental standards. This infrastructure is essential for both the port and the city: it enables the maintenance of large-navigation channels and supports the works — commissioner-led and otherwise — that in the coming years will play a decisive role in the development and competitiveness of the Veneto port system. I hope that, in light of this ruling, ideological opposition will finally be set aside on projects that, by their very nature, are concrete tools of compatibility and sustainability between port operations and the fragile lagoon environment».
Also commenting on the decision was Davide Calderan, President of VPC (Venice Port Community): «We are naturally satisfied. We see growing attention toward both the port and the city of Venice, and we can finally look to the future with less uncertainty. It is essential to continue along this path. The approval of the VIA for the so-called “Trezze” site gives the city and the port breathing room for the next 10–15 years. It will finally be possible to resume proper maintenance of the city’s channels».
