Too many public risks in Messina Bridge - anti-graft head

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 8 - Italy's anti-corruption chief said Thursday the project to build what would be the world's longest suspension bridge across the Messina Strait between Sicily and mainland Italy posed too many risks for the public purse.
    The project has been long delayed amid fears of mafia infiltration and graft, as well as seismic and environmental concerns.
    In the decree on the Strait Bridge "we detect an imbalance in the relationship between the public grantor and the private party, to the detriment of the public, on which most of the risks end up being transferred", said National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC) president Giuseppe Busia in presenting ANAC's annual report on the Anticorruption Authority's activities to Parliament.
    On the decree, which is based on a project drawn up more than ten years ago, Busia said ANAC had proposed a number of amendments to "strengthen the guarantees of the public party, which were not, however, accepted by the government when the decree was converted into law".
    In other points, Busia said the renegotiation of some measures in the massive EU-funded post-COVID National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) would be "decisive" for its implementation and successful allocation of funding.
    He also highlighted "risky short cuts" in the government's recent reform of the public procurement code. (ANSA).