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Italy's €22 billion boost

Jaimie Kanwar

A major Italian city is about to undergo one of Europe's biggest ever infrastructure projects.

That city is Bologna, which is embarking on one of the most ambitious transportation projects of any major European city since the 1960s.

Movement of passengers and freight in the region is expected to get a big boost by the national and local governments' plans to spend €22 billion ($34.64 billion) over the next two decades to build highways, railway lines and freight warehouses.

Bologna has seen very little of its transportation infrastructure upgraded since the 1960s, hampered by political instability. But this is changing with the new federal government, headed by Silvio Berlusconi, who has made investing in infrastructure one of his top priorities.

The overhaul will include:

- A new train station with 1.3 million square feet of shopping, office and hotel space.
- An expansion of a sprawling freight facility.
- High-speed passenger trains linking the city to Milan and Florence.

Bologna's location -- southeast of Milan, at the confluence of five major railroads in Italy -- has made it a popular distribution location for 100 international and national logistics companies.

Officials also are hopeful Bologna's growing population will fuel demand for housing. Some 8,000 apartments being built across Bologna are expected to be completed within 10 years.

By the end of 2006, the population of Bologna's province had risen 5.1% over the prior decade to 954,000, according to Scenari Immobiliari, an Italian research organization specializing in property analysis.

Enrico Levi, project manager of PromoBologna, commented: "The amount and diversity of infrastructure and real- estate development taking part in Bologna is something the city has not experienced in the last 40 to 50 years

Massimo Bernardi, branch manager for Schenker in Bologna, welcomes the planned expansion. "Bologna is a very important center for logistics transport and shipping for the north of Italy. From Bologna, we can reach all over Europe," he says.