blog expo milano

Lucio Stanca, the executive chief of Società di Gestione Expo Milano 2015 S.p.A, handed his resignation with a long letter and left, with immediate effect, the board of directors convened yesterday the 24th June.  The ex executive chief’s resignation was taken for granted after disagreements with the chairman Diana Bracco, who had criticized Stanca management about expenses, control of expenditures and delays in project organization. In his four pages letter of resignation, Stanca talked about his impossibility in exercising his task in the company. For the future company structure, the most popular supposition is the disappearance of the executive chief role: instead of this figure, it will be introduced a general manager. For this position, directors have already advised Giuseppe Sala, ex manager of Pirelli company and general manager of Comune di Milano.

For those who are trying to find a profession, but also for those who are looking for a temporary job: Expo 2015 will be a big opportunity. As it comes out these days  from China, the Expo Shanghai is becoming more and more a source of employment, most of all for very young people and students: touristic guides, interpreters, translators, barmen or waiters in so many clubs and café inside the exposition area are only few examples of jobs available for such a lot of young people. While, in order to train a staff of young expert managers, on the 7th of June were selected ten Italian students which  on September will attend an international  master degree that for two years will involve in Shanghai twenty students from Italy and China.  The master degree entitled “Environmental Assessment and Integrated Management in Urban Areas” is the first high level training activity organized in the outline of an Expo. The Degree’s professional profile is targeted to train experts in tackling complex environmental problems and consequent policies, in line with Chinese Expo topic “Better city, better life”.

An entirely public capital newco that will manage the purchase of thr Expo 2015 building site, open to Comune and Provincia, but where the starring role will be played by Regione Lombardia. On the 17th of May at Pirellone, the Regione headquarters, Roberto Formigoni chairman of Regione Lombardia, met Milan mayor Letizia Moratti and Guido Podestà, chairman of Provincia di Milano, and they sealed up the establishment of the new company whose the only mission will be the purchasing of areas where the expositive park will rise up, an expense of 200 million euros. This way, the Società di Gestione Expo Milano 2015 S.p.A which manages organization of the Expo, will be relieved of the burden of trading. Formigoni explained the model studied with his technicians and underlined how with this newco area’s improvement and plus-value will remain to public advantage.

The Expo 2015 will be an opportunity for tourism, Green Economy and community products. This is the topic that was pointed out in the conference Expo 2015 – Una sfida per l’Europa, una speranza per il Pianeta, held on the 4th of May at the European Parliament in Brussels. The Expo Government extraordinary Advisor Letizia Moratti reasserted the importance of the exposition in the presence of the European Parliament chairman, Jerzy Buzek. Moratti stressed how Expo will be a chance for the whole Europe: “An extraordinary opportunity for Europe in order to increase the value of tourism , to attract investments and to involve young people in cultural and educational exchange programs”. Furthermore, the Mayor stressed how the repercussions on Italian economy will be reflected on the European one. Indeed, as Moratti went on, expo will be “An important chance to promote Italian excellence and creativity, increasing at the same time the value of European brands. A precious opportunity to give an impulse to Green economy innovation and to new technologies in agro industry sector”.

An island surrounded by channels, an enormous botanic park, a lake as big as San Siro Stadium, glasshouses, vegetable gardens and a very long avenue, which each country’s exhibition area will look onto.  Lot of green and lot of water, in order to build spatially  the Expo 2015 topic, which meaning is  feed the planet, energy for life.
The expositive area plan was presented on the 26th of April in the crowded Teatro Strehler: among those present there were the mayor Letizia Moratti, Lucio Stanca, the executive chief of Società di Gestione Expo Milano 2015 S.p.A, Roberto Formigoni , chairman of Regione Lombardia with Filippo Penati chairman  of Provincia, important Italian ministers, and two of the architects, Stefano Boeri, and Ricky Burdett.
The space will be structured in 140 expositive areas (one for each the 140 participants, 130 states and 10 international regions),  that will be set respecting a principle of equality on the World Avenue 1.5 Km long. At the right angles to the Avenue will be set Italy and its regions, with Piazza Italia, where the host country will meet the rest of the world, and Palazzo Italia with the reception.  Moreover, there’ll be greenhouses, cultivated fields in north-east area, in the south will be built the amphitheater with 8000 seats; finally in the Westside there’ll be the covered Performance center, with an auditorium, a theater, and multimedia workshops. All around gardens, parks, arenas and refreshment-room: a whole area of 110 hectares, with 5 bio-climatic areas, 100 Expo Village buildings overlooked to the main channel with 320 apartments, 4 Km of Waterside path to walk and to cycle.

The director of Itc of the Expo 2015, Enrico Frascari, stated that the final budget has not yest been approved during the Assintel (National Assoc. of Business) meeting last week.  Assintel organized this encounter with its members in order to start a collaboration between business members to be involved in the projects presented at the Expo 2015.

The Expo commanding body BIE will meet on April 30th to finalized the budget and it’s looking for tentative ideas and participating companies.  Starting next spring there will be a public bids of different projects and presentations where associations such as Assintel and Confindustria will focus in developing large projects which include tourism, services, commerce, restaurant, logistics, and other projects regarding regional economics.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Roberto Maroni, will head the new overview committee in the ‘Specialized Sector of the Coordinating Committee for the High Surveillance of Large Projects’ (Sezione Specializzata del Comitato di Coordinamento per l’Alta Sorveglianza sulle Grande Opera) which tasks include the oversight of any infiltration risks by organized crime in the Expo 2015 projects - specially construction.

The new committee will create a ‘BLACK LIST’ of companies, except those contract out, which have suspected alliances with organized crime as well as a ‘WHITE LIST’ which will list companies considered to be ’secured’ from organized crime and have transparent financial flow.

“The project is proceeding very well with registrations to the Expo 2015″ declared the Spaniard Vicente Gonzales Loscertales, the General Secretary of Bie (the international organization that manages the Universal Expositions).  In an interview in the Italian newspaper <<il Sole 24 ore>> , Loscertalbes explains “since July we have noticed a change in the perception of Expo 2015, from the start up of the company to the citizens involvement”. He continued by stating “Overall the area of Rho-Pero will give each country an opportunity to build their various size pavilions” and “develop the ‘nutrition’ theme with much flexibility.”

Though the Expo 2015 ‘concept plan’ foresaw identical pavilion for everybody, there will be tailored-made spaces “since - Bie General Secretary explains - diversity is the salt of the Expo; therefore even in Milan diverse pavilions will emerge from country to country”.  And “the construction regulations will provide the possibility that each pavilion be constructed in their own way and size”.

“The micro-project of the passage remains an important part of the project in Milan” because the environment is one of the important themes dedicated in this event which will give to Milan a botanical garden as inheritance from the Expo.

In the meantime in Rome, the Interior Minister Roberto Maroni singed a decree to institutionalize the Coordinating Committee which oversees the construction sights of the Expo 2015 in Milan, and which will only work and deal with companies nominated in the ‘White List’ in order to prevent infiltration of Mafia affilliated companies.

FAO and Expo 2015 last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding during the ‘Private sector action to reduce food in security’ Forum at the Caripolo Foundation. The document signed by Letizia Moratti, Mayor of Milan and the government commissioner for Expo 2015, as well as Lucio Stanca, CEO of Expo 2015 and Jacques Diouf, FAO’s General Director, lays out the foundations between the Expo 2015 and the FAO in reference to nutrition and fight against world hunger.

The Memorandum’s signing represents a new collaboration with concrete short term goals: in 90 days  a new joint commission is to be established to promote secure food/nutrition, develop international projects and create a new center of sustainable development for the Universal Exposition in Milan in 2015.

“We have worked together to obtain the FAO’s participation in the 2015 Expo but also for a center of sustainable development which the Expo will leave in inheritance. - Moratti explains - The challenge of world hunger cannot be won if everybody doesn’t participate.”  Stanca further indicates “Now there are two new large partners in Expo: the FAO in one hand and private citizens in the other. Their contribution will help enrich and develop a concrete way to become the premise of the Universal Exposition as well as during the subsequent years.”

Milan- CEO of Expo 2015 spa, Lucio Stanca, has announce today that he wont accept this years’ variable bonus. Upon ending the Expo 2015 Board meeting Stanca announced that “due to the difficulty in reaching and establishing the 2009 objectives for the Chief Executive Office, this year the CEO will not obtain part of his variable salary”.  In order words Stance will give up his 150 thousand euros bonus.

However ten of his closets collaborators have agreed to receive this years bonus which is tied to their annual objectives. It was Stanca who demonstrated to the Board that the retribution by the top mange of Expo 2015 (himself) as certified by the Audit Firm Watson Wyatt is less than 15.3% compared to the national average and 20.5% to the Milanesse average.

Tuesday meeting focused on the budget. The first 10 months of the year the managing company has accumulated a lost of about 4.9 million euros, which as Stanca stated “leads to believe that it’s a better outcome than the 11.6 million euros originally estimated”.  However it won’t be until the 18th of December during the last company’s board meeting will the final lost estimate be declared as well as the 2010 budget be announced to the press and it’s share holders.