stakeholders, have adopted their respective plans resisting to some periodical
“centralizing” temptations on the part of the Regional Board.
From the other hand, for the Galli reform to be fully implemented, each ATO
should be assigned the Integrated Water Service to a single operator to be
intended as an entrepreneurial subject separate from the Ambit Authority. It is
evident that the choices of the various ATOs about the form of the licensee in
charge of the Integrated Water System will depend on the model of
public/private governance actually put into being for the management of water
services in the Campania Region.
The national regulations of reference, in fact, confine themselves to establish
the principle of separation between regulation and management and prescribe
compliance with competition regulations in terms of license assignments. As to
the form of the operator, ATOs are given ample discretion under art. 113 of the
Single Text on Local Governments. Under this article, local governments can
decide to assign the Integrated Water Service to an operator which falls within
the following categories:
a) a capital company
b) a joint public/private capital company
c) a public company.11
As a first approximation, considering that the decision of assigning the
Integrated Water System has been made in 3 of the 4 Regional ATOs, we can
state that the model of management prevailing in the Campania Region is that
of a joint public/private capital company. Assigning the Integrated Water
System to a single operator has accounted for an indispensable requirement for
the Campania Region ATOs to be able to utilize the funds allocated by the
Regional Action Plan for the construction of the infrastructure envisaged in the
respective Ambit Plans.
Indeed, the Campania Regional Action Plan foresees that, in the second phase
of implementation, the Ambit Plans be funded provided that the Integrated
Water Service as been assigned for the projects presented after December, 31,
2004. In addition, in case of failure in assigning the Service to an operator, the
11 Law Decree n. 267 of 2000 art. 113 “Network management and supply of economically
important public services” comma 5, thus substituted by art. 14, comma 1, letter d), of Law n.
326 of 2003
20