When will the construction work start? Bridge over the Strait? Not before a year and a half. This is the timeline that emerges from the discussion in the city council Messinawhere last Friday, the engineer Valerio Meledirector of the technical area of Strait of Messina Spa, answered questions from experts and advisors. Times very distant from those dictated so far by Matthew Salvini, that he had talked about a start by the summer. Statements that the minister had repeated several times during various political events in view of the vote for the European elections and which are now sparking political controversy. “It’s over election campaign and, punctually, also the propaganda announcements about the start of work first in June and then in July of this summer are denied in a public meeting in Messina, by the technical director of the works of the Strait Bridge”, he thundered Anthony Barbagalloregional secretary of Pd. And fiery comments also came from the committees: “A definitive stone on the bombastic announcements of triumphalist tone repeated during the election campaign,” he comments Elio Conti Nibali of the committee Instead of the bridge, who organized the debate in the city council.
The words of the director of the technical area – But what exactly did Mele say? Pressed in the city council on how they will respond to all the recommendations and observations made by the scientific committee (68 observations) and the Ministry of the Environment (over 200), by December 2024, the head of the technical area of Strait of Messina he clarified that that is not the deadline for responding. That is, said Mele, the date by which the Cipess (the inter-ministerial committee for economic planning and sustainable development) must approve or not the Definitive project. From that moment “10 months” will start within which Stretto is contractually in time for give the necessary answers. The approval of the Cipess, therefore, will “kick off the activities of drafting of the executive project which will be carried out in the time necessary to be able implement all recommendationsThere are also additional testsexperimental: it is obvious that they cannot be closed within the current year”, Mele explained to the councillors. Then he added: “All recommendations will be taken into account and the executive project will be carried out in the time necessary to implement them.”
The timetable that denies Salvini – So, to recap: I’m going in December 2024 the approval of the Cipess, only after the complex activities for implement the recommendations. In this sense there is time contractually at least for 10 monthsso we’re talking about September 2025provided that these are ultimately the actual timescales. Considering that the construction sites cannot start before executive projectit means that the timetable anticipated by Mele is very distant from the announcements made this year by Salvini. “The opening of construction sites for the construction of the Strait Bridge in 2024 It will be a world event”, said the Minister of Infrastructure last January. In April the leader of the League then reiterated that the start of the works would take place by the summer. But it was the Pointe company itself that asked for a 120-day extension – the first deadline was a end of May – to answer the ministry’s 200 questions. It was therefore clear that the works, once the final project had been approved, could not begin before the end of 2024. But now Mele’s answers push the opening of the construction sites even further forward: a postponement of at least 10 months, starting from the beginning of 2025.
“The Bridge is already losing pieces” – This is why the dem Barbagallo goes on the attack: “The further it goes, the more the project loses pieces in terms not only of credibility but of real feasibility. Skepticism also arises from the counter-deductions of Street Commission – Vasof the Cipess, and from what the technicians of the Strait will say following the analyzes requested by the Ministry of the Environment. In light of the facts presented, we believe it is appropriate for the minister to come and report on the obvious critical issues that are emerging and on the real feasibility of the project”. But it’s not just a problem of timing: “Qualify definitive a project in which evidence, materials, foundations, geological and hydrogeological information are not definitive is in conflict with the law – he commented Counts Nibali -. A long debate from which perhaps more clarification could have been expected, but the SdM technicians and consultants remained barricaded in their positions which evidently included only the statement that the designers are the best in the world and are controlled by a very large verification company. It’s a shame then that neither the controllers of Parsons and the Scientific Committee nor the designers of Cowi were present, who, remunerated by SdM, would be the only technical subjects to evaluate the project, given that it will only have the political approval of the Cipess: one of the most demanding projects ever carried out, would therefore also be approved on a technical level by a political body. This could certainly be a first. We don’t believe it’s positive.”
“An elephant in the glass shop” – While Daniele Ialacquaof the committee No Capo Peloro Bridge, remarks: “The impression we get from the debate in the city council is that the bridge project seems to move like an elephant inside a glassware shop. The question to ask is: why do we have to force the elephant into the glassware shop? Metaphor aside: but why necessarily build the Bridge over the Strait when it would be enough to upgrade the ferries?”. Meanwhile the Court of Rome Business Section has set the first hearing for Friday 27 September at 11.30 am for the discussion of theCollective Inhibitory Action presented last June 13th, on behalf of 104 private citizens, against Stretto di Messina Spa: “The first step has been taken so that, with this appeal of ours, we can obtain termination by the company Strait of Messinaof any act or behavior prejudicial to widespread and legally protected collective rights and interests”, declare the lawyers Aurora NotarianniGiuseppe Vitarelli, Maria Grazia Fedele and Antonio De Luca (regional councilor of the M5s) who are part of the defense team”.
