Italy Discusses Decree on Highway Concessions Revocation Rules

(Bloomberg) --

The Italian cabinet is reviewing a decree which includes changes in rules for the revocation of highway concessions, according to a draft of the document being discussed.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s cabinet met Saturday morning to approve a wide-ranging package of rules called the “milleproroghe,” which is an almost annual collection of measures that are voted up or down as a whole.

The decree includes “dispositions on highway concessions,” according to a draft of the document seen by Bloomberg News. Italy’s state-owned operator Anas SpA would temporarily manage highways in the event of a revocation, the draft says.

The measure would also include changes in the way highway operators would be compensated in case of a revocation. The company would just receive a sum based on the investments already completed, according to a draft of the decree.

Representatives of Conte and the finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Conte’s government has said it will rule by the end of this year on concessions held by Atlantia’s Autostrade per l’Italia, with the cabinet also due to conduct a general review of the system, following the 2018 collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa, which killed 43 people.

--With assistance from John Follain.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alberto Brambilla in Rome at abrambilla8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Tommaso Ebhardt, Guy Collins

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