Giubiasco's Seghezzone opens its doors before the residents arrive

The new reception facility for asylum seekers at the Seghezzone in Giubiasco opens to the public on Saturday 8 August from 10am.

The building consists of prefabricated housing modules from the canton of Lucerne. They had been decommissioned and put up for sale there, and Ticino bought them for reuse.

The facility will house around eighty asylum seekers allocated to the canton by the Confederation. It will be run by the Swiss Red Cross, Sottoceneri section.

Two sites due to close

The project stems from a joint initiative of the Department of the Territory and the Department of Health and Social Affairs. The aim is to close progressively the sites currently in use in Giubiasco and beneath Bellinzona station.

The expected saving is put at between one and two million francs over three to four years of operation. The figure comes from comparing the costs of the current facilities with those of the new site.

Saturday morning will feature guided tours of the premises, interactive stations and activities put together with the participation of people who have themselves migrated. An official ceremony is also planned, with addresses by cantonal and municipal authorities, representatives of neighbourhood associations and of the Red Cross. The event closes with a social gathering.

Anyone planning to attend should note one practical detail. The facility has no parking, and visitors are asked to come on foot or by public transport.

The public opening comes before the site enters service. The approach has been used elsewhere to show the premises to the neighbourhood in advance, before the people allocated to the canton move in.

It has not been announced when the first asylum seekers will move into the facility, nor over what period the two current sites will close. Neither has the expected working life of the modules been specified, which the savings estimate places at three to four years.