The government has vowed to address any issues that caused the country’s Audit Court to deny approval for a bridge across the Strait of Messina.
The court also said it will explain its refusal in about a month, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.
The court denial for the €13.5 billion structure comes as some news websites reported that the construction company appointed to build the suspension bridge between the southern shore of Italy and the island of Sicily had started recruiting. General contractor consortium Eurolink, which includes Webuild, IHI, and Sacyr has opened a hiring portal. Roles include construction site assistant, planner, buyer, and head of finance and insurance. There are reportedly also analyst and quality control roles up for grabs.
Stretto di Messina is the company that was established in 1981 by the Italian government to design, build and manage the Strait of Messina Bridge. Design work has been done by the Danish consulting group Cowi and completion is sometime in 2032 or 2033. It will be built between Villa San Giovanni in Calabria province and Torre Faro, several kilometers from the city of Messina on the island of Sicily. The bridge, whose towers will be almost 400m high, will carry both road and rail traffic and will replace rail-ferry connections.
"We await the findings of the Audit Court, which we are convinced we can respond to point by point, with extreme calm," said Deputy Premier and Transport and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini. "I would have liked to start with the construction sites in November. Instead, we will now start in February"
Salvini, prime minister Giorgia Meloni and other government members took shots at the Italian judiciary over the court’s announcement, saying it was another example of it exceeding its powers and encroaching on politics.
The project had been approved by the CIPESS economic planning committee in August. It includes the construction of a 3.3-kilometre suspension bridge, 40km of road and rail links, three new train stations and a business centre in Calabria on the Italian mainland.
In August, news agencies reported that thousands of protestors opposed to the bridge had gathered in Messina. A particular grievance is the around 500 families that are likely to have their homes expropriated.
