The project for the bridge over the Strait of Messina gets underway: “To follow up on the Government’s commitment, we should proceed with the drafting of a technical and economic feasibility project for the two options highlighted”. This was stated by the Minister of Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility, Enrico Giovannini, in a hearing at the meeting of the Chamber’s Environment and Transport commissions on the stable crossing of the Strait of Messina. “The first phase could be completed by the spring of 2022 to launch a public debate and reach a shared choice and highlight the resources in the 2023 budget law”.
At the beginning of July, in fact, the government had undertaken “to adopt the appropriate initiatives” to “identify the resources necessary to create a stable, fast and sustainable connection of the Strait of Messina, thus extending the high-speed network to Sicily “. The bridge over the Strait of Messina has therefore returned to the fore with the approval by the executive of the agenda of the Forza Italia deputy Stefania Prestigiacomo, former Minister for Equal Opportunities in the Berlusconi II Government and in the Berlusconi III Government and former Minister of the Environment of the Berlusconi IV government. Odg then also presented by Fdi and approved.
The bridge over the Strait has returned to the center of the debate by focusing on the additional funds of the Recovery, but the projects of the plan impose a precise deadline: 2026. A date too close for the construction of the bridge.
According to Giovannini, «the first phase of the feasibility project could be concluded by the spring of 2022 to launch a public debate and reach a shared choice in order to highlight the resources in the 2023 law if one of the two project systems is chosen. In this regard, the 50 million euro loan identified with the 2021 budget law is available ”. For the minister, the problem is clear: «The average crossing time of the Strait is comparable to a journey by car ranging from 100 to 300 km. The working group believes that there are strong reasons for a stable link. The evaluation of the utility will be defined at the end of a decision-making process which initially envisages the drafting of a technical-economic feasibility project in order to compare different alternative solutions with the reference one “.
For Giovannini «the bridge with several spans will have a lower visual impact and will allow the connection to be located closer to the towns of Messina and Reggio Calabria, and presumably will have lower costs. The working group believes that the tunnel in the riverbed is more critical for the seismic risk and is discarded as well as the tunnel under the riverbed which would imply the construction of very long tunnels with very high costs. The cost of the work will be borne by public finance. The single-span project presented 10 years ago should in any case be adapted to the current regulatory framework. At the time the cost was 10 billion, now the condition has changed, the project financing model would provide for a very high usage fee to be paid by RFI and Anas “.
Beyond the possibility of building or not a bridge that crosses the Strait of Messina, there are “series of critical issues” in the area that must be resolved and on this front “the government has already planned to reduce excessive travel times” . Also because “the traffic of the Strait of Messina is significant compared to the national scale: 11 million passengers a year, 0.8 million heavy vehicles a year and 1.8 million light vehicles a year”.