A controversial stretch of southern
Italian highway under construction for roughly 25 years, to the
tune of some nine billion euros amid delays and mafia
infiltration, will be completed next year, says Premier Matteo
Renzi.
The 440-kilometre stretch of the A3 highway, first targeted
for modernization in 1990 by the European Union, will be
finalized in 2016, Renzi pledged in an interview on RAI
television on Sunday.
About 100 kilometres are still under construction on the
project but Renzi said that a new board at highway manager ANAS
will "accelerate (construction) and by next year, we will
conclude the work," Renzi said.
"The telenovella of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria is about to
end," said the premier.
The highway linking Italy's southern region with the rest
of the peninsula, was originally built in 1972 and less than 20
years later, was flagged for modernization work that was
supposed to be finished by 2003.
Countless traffic tie-ups and accidents have been blamed on
the old design.
The outgoing president of ANAS, Pietro Ciucci, defended
work on the project, saying that at a cost of about 20 million
to 21 million euros per kilometer, the expense was not
excessive.
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