Naples waste plant ready by end-year -Berlusconi

NAPLES, May 21 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said a waste-to-energy plant in the southern Campania region which will burn rubbish from Naples would be ready for use by the year end.

The Acerra plant, which involves construction company Impregilo (IPGI.MI), will burn rubbish from the city where a crisis over refuse collection going back more than a decade has peaked in recent months, choking the streets, fouling the air, making children ill and scaring away tourists.

Speaking at a news conference after his first full cabinet meeting in Naples -- instead of the capital Rome -- on Wednesday, Berlusconi said a waste-to-energy plant in Salerno, also in the Campania area, would be ready within 30 months.

The government intends to build another waste-to-energy plant in Naples and the city's mayor would have 30 days to identify a site, he added.

Shares in Impregilo closed down more than 5 percent earlier, at a time when there was no news from the cabinet meeting on the Acerra plant.

Impregilo Chief Executive Alberto Rubegni told Italian newspaper Il Giornale in its Wednesday issue the plant was nearly fully built but would need another 7-8 months to come into operation given the need for tests and technical examination.

"At the moment it is about 95 percent (built)," he told the paper.

In Naples, waist-high piles of rubbish sacks have been set on fire by locals fed up with authorities' inability to clear the streets. The problem is complicated by the involvement of the "Camorra" or local mafia in illegal disposal of toxic waste. (Editing by Quentin Bryar)