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Porsche test site in Apulia: “We are open to further dialogue with all parties involved in the development plan”

Photo: Porsche

In southern Italy, environmentalists have successfully protested against the expansion of a huge Porsche test track. After massive protests, the Apulia region has stopped the project for the time being. Activists recently collected around 40,000 signatures against the Stuttgart car manufacturer's plans. The president of the region in the country's "boot heel" has now spoken his word and decided to suspend the agreement on the project at the test site, it said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

"The region shows once again that it wants to reconcile the public interest underlying the implementation of the project with environmental protection," said Michele Emiliano, according to the statement. The region has taken a decision, in agreement with the Ministry of the Environment in Rome, to reconsider some aspects of the procedure.

When asked, a spokesman said that Porsche had taken note of the Apulia region's decision. "We are open to further dialogue with all parties involved in the development plan as well as the public." The goal remains: "We want to ensure the future viability of the Nardò Technical Center and strengthen its role as an important employer and economic factor in the region," said the spokesman further.

Porsche operates one of the most modern test centers in the world near the municipality of Nardò, just a few kilometers from the Gulf of Taranto. The Nardò Technical Center (NTC) includes in particular the circular test track Pista di Nardò with a length of 12.6 kilometers and a diameter of approximately four kilometers. The site also has other vehicle test tracks. Porsche is involved in high-performance testing of new vehicles on the site, which covers more than 700 hectares.

The car manufacturer's plans to expand the test track are causing dissatisfaction among environmentalists and residents. Porsche says it wants to spend around 450 million euros on the expansion. Existing routes are to be renovated and new routes built.

However, environmentalists complain that a huge area of ​​landscape and parts of a forest would have to be sacrificed for the project. Although there are plans to later reforest the cut-down part of the forest, this does not go far enough for the activists.

eru/dpa