‘Senseless project': Italy forges ahead with contested Messina bridge plan
The 13.5-billion-euro project would carry trains and six lanes of traffic, allowing cars to cross the Strait of Messina in 15 minutes.
But widespread scepticism about the project continues, after decades of false starts.
Challenges to its completion include winds of more than 100 kilometres an hour (62 mph) and the risk of earthquakes in a region that lies across two tectonic plates.
The government says the bridge will be at the cutting edge of engineering, with the section suspended between its two pillars stretching 3.3 kilometres, the longest in the world.
Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, one of the main champions of the project, insists it will be a game-changer for the local economy.
"The bridge will be a catalyst for development," he said on a recent visit to Reggio Calabria, where the bridge will begin.
But critics point to a long history of public works announced, financed and never completed in Italy, whether due to corruption or political instability, at enormous cost to taxpayers.
"The public does not trust this political class and these projects that become endless construction sites," said Luigi Sturniolo from protest group Rete No Ponte (No Bridge Network).
Meloni's ministers are expected to give their final approval to the project later this month, and Salvini insists construction will begin this summer.
But work had already been announced for the summer of 2024, before being postponed - a common theme in the history of the bridge.
The first law for the project was passed in 1971. Since then, successive governments have either revived it or cancelled it.
In 2012, the idea appeared to be definitely abandoned amid the eurozone debt crisis, only for Meloni's government, which took office in 2022, to return to it once again.
There is also the question of mafia infiltration.
The attorney general of Messina recently warned of the risk that organised crime would benefit from the project, noting that "the power of the mafia is hidden... behind public contracts".
The government has proposed placing companies relating to the project under control of an anti-mafia structure reporting to the interior ministry.
But Italian President Sergio Mattarella blocked this, saying it should only be used for one-off events such as earthquake relief or the Olympics.
Salvini argued that the bridge can help tackle the mafia, saying: "You do not fight the mafia... with conferences and protests, but by creating jobs and giving hope to young people."
The project has sparked local protests, with critics warning of the impact on a protected marine zone and an important bird migratory route.
Sturniolo told AFP it was a "senseless project" which used up valuable funds when "our regions already suffer from many problems... healthcare, schools, and infrastructure."
The Italian Court of Auditors has also criticised the extent of the debt-laden Italian state's investment in this one project in its assessment of the 2024 budget.
"They want to make an entire territory believe that it's only hope is this bridge -- but then the bridge never arrives," Sturniolo added.
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