Italy’s government on Wednesday approved a 13.5-billion-euro ($15.6-billion) project to build the world’s longest suspension bridge connecting the island of Sicily to the mainland.
After decades of planning — and considerable controversy — a ministerial committee gave the green light to the state-funded bridge over the Strait of Messina, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini announced.
“It will be the longest single-span bridge in the world” and would act as a “development accelerator” for the impoverished regions on either side, namely the island of Sicily and the southern Italian region of Calabria, he said during a press conference.
The bridge has been designed with two railway lines in the middle and three lanes of traffic on either side, with a suspended span of 3.3 kilometres (2.05 miles) — a world record — stretching between two 400-metre (1,300 feet) high towers.
Due for completion by 2032, the government says the bridge is at the cutting edge of engineering, able to withstand high winds and earthquakes in a region that lies across two tectonic plates.
Ministers hope it will bring economic growth and jobs, with Salvini — who is also deputy prime minister — promising the project will create tens of thousands of jobs.
Yet it has sparked local protests over the environmental impact and the cost, with critics saying the money could be better spent elsewhere.
Other critics believe it will never materialise, pointing to a long history of public works announced, financed, yet never completed in Italy.
The bridge has had several false starts, with the first plans drawn up more than 50 years ago.
Eurolink, a consortium led by Italian group Webuild, won the tender in 2006 only to see it cancelled after the eurozone debt crisis. The consortium remains the contractor on the revived project.
This time, Rome has an added incentive to press ahead by classifying the cost of the bridge as defence spending.
Debt-laden Italy has agreed, along with other NATO allies to massively increase its defence expenditure to 5% of GDP, at the demand of US President Donald Trump.
Of this, 1.5% can be spent on “defence-related” areas such as cybersecurity and infrastructure. Rome is hoping the Messina bridge will qualify, particularly as Sicily hosts a NATO base.