(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 7 - Motorway company Autostrade per l'Italia ASPI's maintenance of Genoa's Morandi bridge ahead of the collapse that killed 43 people in August 2018 was insufficient, the head of anti-corruption authority ANAC told parliament Tuesday.
"The maintenance was around 27% (with respect to ASPI's financial plans) but intervention was delayed and the overall data were insufficient to give guarantees on the structure's safety," ANAC President Francesco Merloni told the Senate public works committee in a haring on motorway concessions.
Merloni added that ASPI had not provided full collaboration with the probe into the bridge's collapse, which prompted calls for its concession to be stripped.
"Talking to ASPI to get information was very difficult", he said.
"We are not used to having thus type of interference from administrations.
"In such cases it is essential to have a prompt exchange of information.
"Even in such a dramatic case there was not full collaboration from ASPI".
He added that ASPI had been "particularly resistant to provide transparency".
Merloni said "the concessionaries often resisted their obligations of transparency". (ANSA).