(Adnkronos) – Foreign minister Antonio Tajani welcomed the government’s final okay on Wednesday to build world’s longest suspension bridge – a controversial 13.5 billion euro project that should link Sicily to the mainland by 2030 – saying it would have a “positive impact” on the region and the whole of Italy.
“Today marks the culmination of a long journey. With the final approval of the project for the Messina Strait Bridge, work can begin to build the greatest engineering work ever constructed in Italy: the longest single-span bridge in the world,” Tajani wrote on X.
The 3.7 kilometre single-span bridge, which has been under discussion since the 1960s, was Italy’s late premier and billionaire media mogul Silvio Berlusconi’s “dream” Tajani recalled.
“It is a project that will have a positive impact on the economy, tourism, and the whole of Italian society,” Tajani added, calling the bridge “a strategic piece of infrastructure”.
The bridge “will bring Sicily closer to the rest of Italy and Europe”, propel the development of surrounding areas and benefit poorer southern Italy’s entire economy and population, Tajani argued.
“It will boost the growth of the whole of the South and will help reverse the depopulation of its inland areas and build a prosperous future,” Tajani underlined.
Premier Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government has made the Messina Strait bridge one of its priorities and has earmarked 13.5 billion euros over the next 10 years to build the bridge and surrounding facilities.
The project has however faced strong opposition on environmental and financial grounds and amid concerns over possible mafia infiltration and the wisdom of building such a bridge in an earthquake zone.
But there is strong support for the bridge from those who claim a fast rail and road connection to Sicily as an alternative to ferries will give the island and other underdeveloped Italian regions a badly needed boost.
Italy’s national audit court must validate Wednesday’s green light for the bridge from the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development (CIPESS), transport minister Matteo Salvini told reporters last week.
