Rome mayor intervenes after resignation of AMA board.

"AMA is and remains public, it will not fail and will not be privatised", the mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi posted on her Facebook page.

The mayor's intervention followed the resignation of the board of Rome's waste collection company AMA over a clash with the city over a disputed debt of €18 million from the company's 2017 budget.

In her Facebook post Raggi wrote: "I asked the company to present truthful and correct financial statements for sound and solid management, and to guarantee the cleanliness of the city regardless of any technical or accounting considerations. Untruthful and incorrect financial statements will never be approved by this administration."

On 2 October the Rome doctors' guild issued a health warning over the build-up of rubbish on the city's streets as the capital struggles to cope with the disposal of its rubbish due to lack of facilities.

Raggi subsequently assured the doctors that the newly-appointed administrator of AMA will do everything in his power to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

However time is of the essence as the so-called "Save Rome" decree - authorising the treatment of Rome's undifferentiated trash in various plants around the Lazio region - ends on 15 October.

Photo Affari Italiani