The Bari CPT costs as much as a four stars hotel. The fixed costs are around five thousands euros per day which, if you consider an average of fifty people per day, corresponds to about one hundred euros per person. That’s a lot. And that’s what the Bari police is focusing on. The vice-attorney general, Francesco Bretone, has been investigating for a few months already on the Misericordia, the contractor the Prefettura put in charge for 2006.
The local governmental offices are not responsible though: they just followed the orders they received from Rome. According to the contract, the State was supposed to reimburse the contractor for at least half of the 196 spots available, regardless of how many people there were in the CPT. This detail didn’t convince the investigators, so for the last few months they have been acquiring all the paperwork to examine it. So far there is no suspect.
The issue of the costs has caught the attention of the government as well. Apparently, the terms of contract have been modified: in 2007, the State is not paying 80 euros per spot anymore, but only 50. This condition has not been considered profitable by the Misericordia. So, the arch confraternity is not going to manage the CPT anymore. From March on (and for the following year) that center is going to be managed by the Bari OER (Radio Emergency Operators), who won the new public competition called by the Prefettura.
In the past few months, the CPT has been strongly criticized by many associations and by the Local Administration. The Mayor strongly (and publicly) campaigned against the opening of the CPT in the San Paolo neighbourhood. The whole neighbourhood joined the campaign and the “NO CPT network” picketed in front of the entrance for over a month. But it didn’t work. The CPT opened and, apparently, hasn’t hosted many people so far.
The building has been visited lately by Staffan De Mistura, the President of the Examining Commission sent by the Internal Affairs Ministry to examine the CPAs and CPTs.
"This is a structure that could be envied by the entire Europe, but the issue of the juridical justification of these centers is still open”, said the ambassador. De Mistura strongly criticized the caravanopolis in Palese. “It doesn’t comply with the requirements, it cannot host people in a decent way. It has to be closed starting from 2007". As of now, it is closed; what is still to be understood is what is going to happen this coming Spring, when the center in Lampedusa is going to be overcrowded.
Traduzione a cura di Sandra Montanari, che ringraziamo.
