During a press conference at Piazza Venezia, the Mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri announced the Commune has postponed the entry into force of the 51 gates of the ZTL (limited traffic zone) green belt. The decision comes after more than 100,000 signatures asked the city to review this measure.

With this announcement, the official confirmed the postponement of the ban on Euro 4 diesels and Euro 3 petrol cars in the ZTL until November 2024, a ban whose entry into force will in any case be linked to the monitoring of air and pollutants. The reform of the resolution provides for a plan with annual validity, from November 2023 to November 2024. Moreover, there is green light for LPG (dedicated and bi-fuel) vehicles, and are therefore excluded from the initial provision.

“We reached an agreement with the Region of Lazio on the amendments to the previous resolution. It was a long and positive comparison, and I thank the Region for the collaboration,” said Gualtieri, who highlighted some “new rules” compared to the initial framework.

“We have found an adequate point of balance. In essence there will be some innovations: LPG will be able to circulate contrary to the original proposal. There will be two move-in and entry bonus mechanisms, which will allow partial use of vehicles which already today have limited circulation; some limits have existed since 2014, others since 2018 but no measures have ever been taken to make them feasible. The Euro 4 diesels will continue to circulate for a year”, he added.

According to the mayor, with the necessary time, “we will arrive at a more orderly situation, with effective limitations and tools to protect those who make limited use of the car and those who are not in a position to support the change.”

He finally remarked that the collaboration with Lazio Region “allows us to make this measure more sustainable and consistent with the need to reconcile all the objectives: health protection by reducing polluting vehicles, while also protecting the most disadvantaged people on whom no the weight of this exercise can be unloaded.”

Thanks to this agreement, they will further monitor the air quality data of the city and formulate a new proposal for the period from 2025 onwards together with the Region, according to Gualtieri, “also taking into account the European legislation on the limits of pollutants.”

It is worth mentioning that the ZTL green belt has created numerous protests among Roman citizens. The petition “No to New Gates” has been signed by over 100,000 people to date. “We don’t have money to buy new cars, but we have to go to work” and “the city belongs to everyone, not just the rich” were some of the answers of the signatories.

Source: ADNKronos

8 November 2023