The Italian capital has established Rome City Investment, a new agency to promote urban development and regeneration through the partnership of public and private bodies.
During a ceremony held at the Expo Italia Real Estate fair in Milan last week, the agency's newly-appointed Chief Executive Roberto Diacetti said Rome City Investment is targeting some EUR 25 bn of investments in the next 10 years, EUR 2.3 bn of which has already been raised.
'Following the launch of a new strategic development plan for Rome, the Piano di Sviluppo Strategico (PSS), we today create this agency which will not be a 'catalogue of good intentions' but a concrete development programme,' he said.
The agency will seek to invest some EUR 12 bn through public-private partnerships, while the remaining EUR 10 bn will be drawn from public institutions, including the city, the Lazio region, the State and the European Union.
'Rome offers some concrete development opportunities and seeks local and international investors to help it realise these projects. We have already defined a first portfolio which will be marketed to investors and developers,' he added. Diacetti pointed out that the re-launch of Rome is even more important at a time when the Italian capital candidated itself for the Olympics Games of 2020.
Main projects include the regeneration of the Tor Bella Monaca district of Rome, as well as the Ostia waterfront redevelopment. Tor Bella Monaca, a district to the northeast of the city, involves a number of residential blocks developed after World War II. The new project aims to demolish the current buildings and transform the area into residential spaces, with public services and 150 hectares of green areas. Designed by architect Leon Krier, the project will see the start of development of an initial 70,000 m2 of residential accommodation by year-end, while the entire project should be up and running by early 2013.
On Ostia's waterfront, the municipality aims to redevelop over 10 km of coastline to create one of the largest tourist attraction poles in the region. The master plan, encompassing 1.2 million m2 of gross residential and commercial spaces, also includes the extension of the existing harbour in Ostia. Through partnerships with private investors, the city hopes to release funds of EUR 250 mln to be invested in infrastructure in the area.
'Rome no longer wants to be considered a city of the past,' said mayor Gianni Alemanno. 'Without betraying its roots, it wants to take a giant step towards the future, and has the ambition to surpass Paris and become the second tourist destination in Europe, right after London. In order to do this, we need private investments, and we want to ensure developers and investors that Rome is not a swamp where you get in and don't know when and how you will get out, there are guaranteed time lines and fixed procedures.'
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