The government's 13.5-billion-euro project to build a bridge across the Strait of Messina connecting Sicily and the Italian mainland was definitively approved by CIPESS economic planning committee on Wednesday.

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini said that what will be the world's longest suspension bridge should be in use in 2032 or 2033 with work on it set to start in the autumn.

    "If we keep going as we have started, the goal is to be able to cross the bridge between 2032 and 2033, which is what the engineers predict," Salvini told a press conference.
    "Now the stamp of Court of Auditors is needed, but I count on starting with construction sites, works and expropriations between September and October".
    The project includes the construction of a 3.3-kilometre suspension bridge, 40 kilometres of road and rail links, the three new train stations and a business centre in Calabria.
    The project, which had been championed by late three-time premier and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, had been set aside for decades due to its high cost, and concerns about its environmental impact, seismic risks and possible mafia infiltration - the first plans were drawn up over half a century ago.
    But is was revived by Salvini after the centre-right's victory in the 2022 general election.
    Salvini said that the government will be vigilant against mafia infiltration of the project "24 hours a day".
    "Countering any attempt of infiltration will be our raison d'être," he said.
    "We are all adopting protocols with the interior minister as we did for Expo (Milano 2015) and the (2026 Milano Cortina Winter) Olympics.
    "We have to watch the whole supply chain so that it is impervious to ill-intentioned people.
    "If you don't build the bridge because the mafia and 'ndrangheta exist, then we won't do anything anymore," he added.
   

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