Europe's largest urban regeneration mobility project FILI and Hydrogen breakthrough H2iseO Hydrogen Valley presented in the UAE

FNM Group, the leading integrated sustainable mobility Group in Italy's Lombardy region, is seeking investors from the UAE and the region for FILI, one of the largest urban-suburban regeneration projects of Europe.

The urban-suburban project to be completed at an estimated investment of 1.5 billion Euros in Italy's richest city Milan covers over 188,000 square metres. It involves projects totalling two million square metres of surface area, equal to 1,600 Olympic-size swimming pools, within the Lombardy region.

The infrastructure highlights two significant projects -- Milan-Malpensa axis, a key link for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics, will look like a whole new artery of green, modern and highly liveable urban scenarios; and H2iseO Hydrogen Valley, an Italian hydrogen-based industrial value chain for a sustainable mobility system in Val Camonica, a UNESCO world heritage site.

The large-scale regeneration project of the main FERROVIENORD network leverages cutting-edge architectural design and environmental sustainability solutions over 41,000 hectares across 24 municipalities.

Ms. Claudia Maria Terzi, Lombardy Region Councillor for Transport, Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility, attended Expo 2020 Dubai thanks to a virtual bridge between Milan and Dubai. 

"We feel that the Expo 2020 Dubai's significance extends beyond the event's duration. Bonds have been formed due to this occurrence, and they will continue in the future. We chose to attend not only to show the Lombard reality but also, and perhaps most importantly, to gather inspiration from the projects carried out in the United Arab Emirates. The cornerstones of improvement are dialogue, conflict, and knowledge. As a result, Dubai is a location for us to widen our vision of the future in terms of sustainable mobility," Ms. Terzi said.

One of the most significant urban and extra-urban regeneration projects in Europe, Fili, is among the various topics on which the Councillor of the Lombardy Region intervened.

"Fili is an incredible project that helps to rethink infrastructure and transportation paradigms in Lombardy, which is both a land of innovation and one of Europe's most urbanized and anthropized regions," she added.

During his visit to Dubai to be part of Expo 2020, Mr Andrea Gibelli, President of FNM Group, said, "We are proud to present the project, which spans over 50 kilometres from the centre of Milan to the International Airport, to investors in this part of the world. This unique project brings a new idea of mobility to the world-leading on sustainable development."

When the project is completed, Mr. Gibelli compares it with Dubai's mobility infrastructure, "when you're landing at the Malpensa airport in Milan compared to landing at the Dubai International Airport, the distances will be the same. And when you land in Milan, you will be commuting by the regenerated railway that rides through a forest of 800,000 real trees spanning over 50 kilometres on the Milan-Malpensa route, which is the main corridor for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics."

"we are in the city looking for innovative and sustainable ideas from Dubai and the Expo 2020. The model that we have had the chance to see in Dubai has been a great source of inspiration. If you look at Europe, where the cities are quite old, it's challenging to have this type of city planning," he elaborated.

"Sustainability is the main theme, and people are the most important part. We want to make sure that even a small village has the same opportunities to connect with the main cities," Mr. Gibelli said.

According to him, the FILI project will facilitate an ideal and unprecedented journey through the technological and biotechnological evolution of Milano Cardorna, Milano Bovisa, Saronno and Busto Arsizio stations and the adjacent areas.

The project will see the development of a  72.7 kilometres cycle-superhighway between the Milano Cordorna station and the Melpensa airport.

In addition FNM presented a breakthrough hydrogen project named: “H2iseO Hydrogen Valley"

It is a project implemented by FNM, FERROVIENORD and Trenord, which aims to decarbonise public transport services and support the transition to a more sustainable transport system.

The project is a first step in establishing a zero-emission mobility system, as well as a first step in introducing an economic system based on hydrogen.

It is developed in the Val Camonica area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, an important industrial pre-alpine valley in eastern Lombardy and gateway to the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

The highly innovative project covers the social, economic, geographical and environmental dimensions of mobility, developing a geographic, financial and industrial district based on hydrogen to enable and support the energy conversion of the area and total decarbonization of the main components of the local public transport.