There simply was not much interest in Autostrade, scholars say, largely because the regulatory framework looked daunting. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport had clear control over both inspections and toll rates. At least on paper.
“Any investor would have been worried about bidding,” said Carlo Scarpa, a professor of economics at the University of Brescia, in northern Italy. “The Benettons, though, knew the system and they understood that the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, which was supposed to supervise the whole thing, was weak. They were able to calculate the weight the company would have in the political arena.”
Italy was so desperate for cash that it was ready to strike a deal on very generous terms. There were price caps on tolls, but they were derived using a system described by Giorgio Ragazzi, a retired professor of economic science at Bergamo University, as “highly discretional.” And the contract lasted until 2018, later extended to 2038.
Autostrade had been highly profitable when it was owned by the state, and it grew more so in private hands. By 2003, the Benettons had increased their stake, leading another consortium to purchase a majority share.
One of Italy’s biggest clothing retailers and its partners had become, as Professor Ragazzi put it, “lords of the motorway.”
If the Benettons benefited, so did the Italian Treasury. Autostrade has poured billions of euros into state coffers, paying nearly 600 million euros a year in corporate taxes, V.A.T. and license fees. Autostrade became an indirect way for the government to continue taxing drivers for a system that, by the time it was privatized, had very nearly been paid for in full.
“The government,” said Giuliano Fonderico, professor of administrative law at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, “has always thought of Autostrade as an A.T.M.”
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