Venice to get underwater metro system
Authorities in Venice have unveiled plans to connect the famous and historic island city with its mainland neighbour Mestre with an underwater metro line.
The Independent reports that plans for the eight-kilometre line, which is budgeted at £230 million, will be published next Thursday.
The newspaper states that the island has been “haemorrhaging” citizens for the last few decades, with the population dropping from 175,000 to 64,000 in the last 50 years, as property prices rose fast and flooding became more common in the city.
The vaporetti water buses that carry most of the human traffic between the island and the mainland are described as “bursting”.
Mayor Paolo Costa is quoted as saying: “The whole system of access to the city needs to be revised; we need to give to the old city the chance to become, once again, the productive heart of the metropolis. The heart of Venice must become more usable. It must become a convenience and stop being a handicap.”
However, The Independent quotes one environmental group as saying that it bitterly opposes the plans.
Italia Nostra reportedly believes that the planned metro system will “deliver ever greater numbers of tourists and drive even more Venetians over to terra firma”.
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd www.newsfromabroad.com
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