Money also arrives to build the Bridge over the Strait. The Council of Ministers gave the green light to all economic coverage for the construction of the major project that will connect Sicily to Calabria. We are talking about 12 billion euros, all included in the 2024 budget, approved yesterday by the Council of Ministers chaired by Giorgia Meloni. «There is total coverage, that’s what the newspaper sings – exults the deputy prime minister and minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini -. Now we will have discussions with the EIB, but let’s go.” And on the date of the laying of the first stone, Salvini continues to reiterate “that I have every intention of opening the shipyard in the summer of 2024”. Question: but how is it possible to cover 12 billion, that is, half the budget? The explanation comes in detail from the Minister of Economy himself. «Like all public works, the Bridge is financed by the entire value, which is 12 billion in the multi-annual projection – explains Giancarlo Giorgetti -.The first three installments to rise are distributed over the first three years. The temporal location is affected by the timing, which we realistically expect to develop: they are mainly concentrated in 2025 and 2026.” In essence, the Meloni government moves quickly for the construction of the Bridge over the Strait.
And speaking of money, the work is also co-financed by the Region of Sicily. In fact, just yesterday, Schifani’s board unanimously confirmed its willingness to invest more than a billion euros. «We have laid the foundations to give a decisive acceleration to the construction of what will be a strategic infrastructure for the future of Sicily» says Schifani. In practice, the investment by the island’s government will allow Sicily to participate, with a 10 percent share, in the construction of the infrastructure. The overall cost of the work, remember, is around 12 billion euros. Sicily, in detail, will contribute with one billion euros from resources from the new programming of the Development and Cohesion Fund (FSC) 2021-2027, and with another 200 million resulting from savings related to national resources for the 2014-2020 cycle. still expenses. The construction of the work is provided for in law no. 58 of last May. It will be the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world (3.2 kilometers) and will be resistant to earthquakes equal to 7.1 magnitude on the Richter scale, with a “third generation” aerodynamic deck stable up to a wind speed of 270 km/h. According to the project calendar, the construction time for the project is around 6 years, including secondary structures. The final project, in fact, also includes 20.3 km of road connections and 20.2 km of rail connections. Among the infrastructure works, 3 new motorway interchanges, a railway connection and 3 new metro stations in Messina. Also the new Calabrian seafront and the layout of the rivers and coasts. Not to mention the requalification of lakes and old abandoned quarries. All this until the end of 2030, according to the estimates presented.
Meanwhile, the Messina Strait Society is in action. The internal publicly traded company, chaired by Giuseppe Recchi, former CEO and president of the General Electric group and former president of Anas, Pietro Ciucci, recently created the Scientific Technical Committee that will be coordinated by Alberto Prestininzi from «La Sapienza» of Rome . The independent committee will have strategic support and consultancy tasks for the construction of the Ponte do Estreito. It seems necessary to remember that the first to go beyond the advertisements, after fifty years of conversation at Ponte, was Silvio Berlusconi. In 2005, the government then headed by Cav managed to award the contract through an international competition. But then, in 2012, Mario Monti’s tombstone put an end to the project.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
