Not since the Tap gas pipeline in Puglia have we seen such radical opposition to a public work. The opponents of TAP - Cinquestelle in particular - did not go well. The infrastructure was needed by the country and it was built. The usefulness of the Sicilian bridge is much more obscure and the string of appeals for environmental damage, costs, expropriations, contracts, is getting longer from week to week. Obviously there are also those who want the bridge.
The services conference is scheduled for this morning at the Ministry of Infrastructure with all the interested ministries, the state administrations, the representatives of Sicily and Calabria. Among other things, we will also examine the interference of network services, and this is no small thing, which cross the strait and are related to the feasibility of the project.
The Strait of Messina Society
The President of the Stretto di Messina company, Italo Ciucci, defends the project presented a month ago in Parliament. It couldn't be otherwise but the appeals shouldn't leave him very calm. He is an experienced manager but he must keep appeals in mind. The latest one was from yesterday 40 Sicilian professionals – lawyers, magistrates, engineers – who turned to the Messina Prosecutor's Office regarding the illegitimacy of the procedures and the costs of the bridge. The latest estimates speak of over 13 billion euros with heavy repercussions on the two metropolitan areas of Messina and Reggio Calabria. Were the calculations done correctly? Will they still rise?
Another judicial storm has to do with the expropriations of homes. To build the bridge, hundreds of them must be demolished: for now 250 in the Torre Faro area in Messina and 150 between Reggio Calabria and Villa San Giovanni. The expropriated parties formed a committee and also turned to the prosecutor's offices of Reggio Calabria, Messina and the Court of Auditors. Attention, the capital's judiciary is raising its attention on the bridge. After the complaint by Elly Shlein, Angelo Bionelli e Nicola Fratoianni- Pd, Alleanza Verdi, Sinistra Italiana – has opened an investigation which currently has no suspects.
A sealed fate?
The minister Matteo Salvini he is increasingly euphoric. He says that construction sites will open within the year. Who knows if he too is unaware of the appeals and the political circumstances that do not see him in a serene position. What does he mean? The fact that the campaign for the European bridge elections is underway will certainly be talked about. Is the center-right united on the issue? There are certainly many within the League who cannot stomach such excessive spending when the game of differentiated autonomy is being played. As for the environmental impacts of the single span between Calabria and Sicily, Fratelli d'Italia should stay away from other accusations of devastators of the territory. It is likely that the prime minister is making the best of a bad game and that after the European elections she will take stock. There is no point in doing so now that she is preparing to be the leader in the islands constituency too.
In any case - if construction sites really were to open - times they will be longer than those spread by Minister Salvini. Justice has its times and here we must interpret the environmental regulations cited in the complaints carefully, as well as obviously carefully judging the expropriations of villas, condominiums and commercial activities.
An arrow also came from the Technical Scientific Committee on the executive project. The technicians have not ruled out additions in some sections. The topic could return to the foreground during the services conference and directly affect the work assigned to the Eurolink consortium. The Strait of Messina company insists on the "southern mission" of the infrastructure, but underestimates everything that Italian politics and public opinion express on the bridge and not from today. In the end, only the Strait of Messina company could remain standing - once again - having already been liquidated once and resurrected in 2023.
At this rate the bridge will never be built. It has become too famous a project, and in Italy it is much easier to block than to do. Everyone will try to get their little piece and so for the next 100 years