Italy gives final go-ahead for landmark Sicily bridge project • FRANCE 24 English

Italy gives final go-ahead for landmark Sicily bridge project • FRANCE 24 English

It’s been in the works since the 1960s, but the straight of Msina Bridge has had several false starts. Where Sylvio Belusone failed after plans for the bridge were shelved following the Eurozone debt crisis, Georgia Maloney’s government is determined to succeed. It’s given the project its final approval and set aside 13.5 billion euros to build it. At this point, we can say not it would be, but it will be the world’s longest suspension bridge. Ministers say the 3.7 km suspension bridge with its four lanes of traffic and double track railway will replace slow ferry services, bringing jobs and economic growth for the impoverished regions on either side, namely Calabria and the island of Sicily. But it’s been opposed over its environmental impacts and cost with critics saying the money could be better spent elsewhere. It’s also been dogged by concerns over its safety in a region that lies across two tectonic plates and fears of potential mafia involvement. Not building the bridge because Sicily has the mafia and Calabria has Enrangita would mean doing nothing at all. And today we are also investing more than double what the bridge will cost in Sicily and Calabria. Salvini said construction is expected to start next year once the court of audit signs off. Italy has a long history of public works announced, financed, yet never completed.

Italy’s government gave final approval on Wednesday to the construction of what will be the world’s longest single-span bridge, linking Sicily to the mainland, despite environmental, financial and other concerns that have delayed it for decades. The 3.7-kilometre (2.3-mile) structure, set to break the record currently held by Turkey’s Canakkale Bridge across the Dardanelles, has been under discussion since at least the late 1960s as a tool to develop Italy’s poorer south.
#Sicily #bridge #Italy

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