On October 15, the presidency of SEM Port Toga should pass into the bosom of the Bastia municipality. The opportunity to take stock of the state of this infrastructure and the work carried out by public and private actors involved in its daily management
Popular ideas are tough and, from this point of view, the port of Toga is not bad.
This infrastructure straddling the municipalities of Bastia and Ville di Pietrabugno, inaugurated in euphoria in 1990, remained an unfinished project for years before becoming a semi-disinherited area plagued by commercial vacancy and a reputation for disorder. and insecurity.
In the fall of 2018, a series of violent fights on the outskirts of nightclubs ended to crystallize negative opinions.
On October 15, a handover should take place at the head of SEM Port Toga – the semi-public company managing the port (See box). As a result of the recent municipal elections, the presidency held since 2014 by Michel Rossi, the mayor of Ville-di-Pietrabugno, is normally expected to fall to the mayor of Bastia.
On the eve of this deadline, public decision-makers and private actors involved in the day-to-day management of the various infrastructures wish to underline the work accomplished in recent years. And, by the way, to give the places an image more in keeping with reality.
“Lack of consultation”
From an economic point of view, the managers put forward a proactive approach intended to strengthen the attractiveness of the port. “In 2015, we succeeded in bringing in Crédit Agricole, which moved into a building that was once squatted; three years ago, we installed the Posidonia multi-reception crèche, recalls Michel Rossi. Today we are no longer on the bar-restaurant diptych. In the port, there is now a hairdresser, a business office, an insurance company, the premises of the National Society for Rescue at Sea … All that makes people and customers for shops. ” But the painting also has its dark side. 2,000 square meters of commercial premises are still waiting to find a taker. And the newly introduced diversity does not necessarily satisfy everyone. Some traders accuse him of having split the port in two. South side: yachting, lemonade and catering activities. North side, developed in 2012 after having been left fallow for a long time: the tertiary sector (liberal professions, service activities). “The problem is the lack of consultation, deplores a shopkeeper who has been living in Port Toga for thirty years. Shops do not have the same expectations as offices. Gold traders are now in the minority within the SPT (Company in charge of the management of openings – see box, editor’s note) and fail to be heard. “
“Gradual restructuring”
On the side of the governing bodies of the SPT, we are nevertheless satisfied with the work carried out in recent years. Particularly since the end of 2018, when the chairmanship finally passed to a shareholder present daily in the port, after having been for years in the hands of the Spada company. “We have renovated the lighting, redone the asphalt, secured the facades, redone 1,000 square meters of roofs, underlines Charles Doll, the new president of the SPT. We could perhaps have done more, of course, but I believe that the majority of shareholders have understood that we are working on the gradual restructuring of a tool that was abandoned. ”
A new
fairing area
The shopkeeper in the southern part is less enthusiastic. “We had high expectations, she confides. Even though SPT leaders are doing their best, there is still too much to do on this side of the Port. ” Since the incidents of 2018, some night establishments have closed and the problem of insecurity seems less acute. But the installation of video surveillance cameras – which must be done under the aegis of the two municipalities – continues to be awaited with great impatience. On the side of the town hall of Ville di Pietrabugno, there is a delay in the allocation of the subsidy promised by the State and we promise a delivery of the site for “the first quarter of 2021”. Finally, there is the basin, managed by the SPTP (see box). Here too things have been done even if they are not necessarily visible at first glance. The dikes, damaged during the storm of 2008, have been reinforced. Above all, there was the renovation, in 2016, of the fairing area, out of service for years, due to lack of sufficient capacity. “That was the central problem, confides Jean-Michel Savelli, elected of Ville di Pietrabugno and president of the SPTP. The lack of a fairing area ended up creating financial imbalances within the company and problems with traders. ” This problem solved, the SPT is preparing to undertake a new major project: the replacement of the pontoons, which have reached the end of their life after thirty years of use.
A clearly visible achievement which will perhaps, along with all the others, make it possible to restore to the port the laughing image which it had, thirty years ago, at the time of its inauguration.
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