Deputy Premier and Transport and
Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday that he is
hopeful work will start next summer on a bridge across the
Strait of Messina to connect Sicily to the Italian mainland.
The government is pressing ahead with the project to build what
would be the world's longest suspension bridge, which has been
long delayed due to funding issues as well as fears of mafia
infiltration and graft, and seismic and environmental concerns.
"We are respecting the schedule we set ourselves 10 months ago
with a great deal of patience," Salvini told the assembly of the
Italian guild of engineers.
"The aim is, after 52 years of talk, to open the worksites in
the Year of Our Lord 2024 and close them in 2032 with the first
train, the first car, the first motorbike, the first truck
crossing (the Strait) via a stable connection".
The League leader has said the bridge will cost no more than 12
billion euros spread over 15 years.
However, Tommaso Foti, the Lower House whip for Premier Giorgia
Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, said Wednesday that he
doubted that contracts for the bridge would be ready in 2024.
"The bridge is an investment expenditure and, therefore, I think
it can be a (2024) budget item concerning a multi-year
programme," Foti said.
"I doubt that we will already be at the contracts stage next
year.
"It seems to me that we do not have an executive project at the
moment".
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