(Finance) – “The Strait Bridge project is wrong, anachronistic, harmful and wasteful. We have decided to sign a complaint together, to see clearly, we who are opposition parliamentarians have been denied rights.” This is what the Pd secretary, Elly Schlein, at a press conference in Rome with i Avs leader, Nicola Fratoianni and Angelo Bonelli. “There is a lack of transparency, which is why – added Schlein – we have joined this initiative, we are determined to move forward to stop this harmful work”.
“The government and the Ponte sul Strait company have not made public fundamental documents to understand the extent of the project, the procedures – he explained Bonelli –. The report on the project was denied to parliamentarians, on the grounds that they are confidential and secret, yet they bind the state to 14.6 billion euros. We learned from Ciriani that the report was presented on 30 September 2023 while the negotiating document was signed on 29 September: therefore all in 24 hours. How is this possible?” Among others points on which the Avs and Pd complaint on the Strait Bridge is basedthere is the government’s decision “with the Ponte Decree, of the lapse of a dispute with the Eurolink consortium for 700 million euros – he said Bonelli –. The State had already won, with a first degree ruling, but, despite this, the Government decided to renounce this dispute while Eurolink did not submit waivers”. Finally, “the meeting, documented by Report and never denied by the interested parties, between Salvini, Lunardi and Salini, head of the Eurolink consortium, which casts shadows on possible irregularities in the decision-making process and assignment of tasks: after 12 years, the project is resumed and reassigned to the same consortium without a new tender. Even an Anac report underlines how, with the Bridge decree, a favor was done for private individuals”.
“It’s absurd – he says Bonelli – that such huge amounts of public money are allocated to a project that raises doubts not only in Italy but also among international experts, primarily Japanese, who have expressed doubts about the feasibility of single-span bridges of 3,300 meters due to the risks associated with bending and torsion. This only increases our fears of an unprecedented squandering of resources.”
“That there are potential aspects of opacity in the story that accompanies this enormous and gigantic work appears evident or at least possible. That the project can be updated in a few hours does not seem possible. When there are enormous public resources, transparency is necessary. It concerns us but also the country, the citizens” he said Fratoianni.
“We have made a request to all potentially interested forces, including Conte, the fact that there is no signature from others does not mean that they are not with us in this battle. We think that Pd and Avs can be catalysts – he explained Bonelli –. Beyond the instruments, other political forces also share the battle against the wrong project of the Strait Bridge.”
“We are against this project, which makes no sense if we do not create the infrastructure needed by Sicily and Calabria and it makes no sense at this moment to definance so many projects, even to remove cohesion funds essential for the development of Sicily and Calabria, for allocate them to a single structure which we then know will not be done” said the leader of M5s Giuseppe Conte.
“The designer’s report is in the final stages of approval. Once approved it will be made public together with all the project documents – they explained sources from the Strait of Messina company to Ansa, replying to the complaint presented to the Prosecutor’s Office by the Pd and Avs -. As explained several times, there are no secrets. Stretto di Messina was asked to have a copy of a work not yet completed which requires an approval process regulated by law. The Strait of Messina investigation into the designer’s report, which began on 30 September, involved not only the company’s technical management, but also the Parsons transportation Group as Project manager consultant and an Expert panel as a support body for the technical activities of High surveillance. The company – add the Strait of Messina sources – also received a favorable opinion with observations on the report from the Scientific Committee, a body established by law 1158/1971, composed of nine experts appointed by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport in agreement with the Calabria Region and the Sicilian Region. The Access Commission established at the Presidency of the Council with decision of 19 December 2023, declared the inadmissibility of the appeal brought by the Honorable Bonelli in relation to the request for access to the designer’s report. The relationships with the general contractor Eurolink aimed at preparing the designer’s report, as already widely regulated by the legislative decree of 31 March 2023, n. 35, were formally activated by the company immediately after the Stretto di Messina shareholders’ meeting (6 June 2023), which appointed the new Board of Directors. The formal launch took place with a provision from the CEO – company sources continue to say -. The company’s utmost attention towards the role of Anac and the suggestions and recommendations expressed is confirmed. It should be noted that the shelving of the project in 2012 did not concern the quality of the design done by the General Contractor. As is known, the Eurolink documents were successfully subjected to verification, control and validation processes never before carried out in Italy in the context of the design of public works”.
Company sources do not believe that “there is a risk of providing the company with a gift or a legal weapon to assert its reasons in litigation against the State”. Furthermore, “the bridge open to trains and cars 24 hours a day, 365 days a year is the best answer to the demand for a more efficient and modern connection system between Sicily, Calabria and the rest of the continent. It makes it sustainable the extension of the national and European railway line in Calabria and Sicily. As part of the huge investments made and underway to make the North-South Europe Corridor (Helsinki-Palermo) operational, the bridge is a fundamental piece that completes the transport mosaic national and European. The rail viability on the bridge – conclude the sources of the Stretto di Messina company – involves the crossing at speed in any position of two 750 meter heavy trains. The static analysis was calculated with the presence of four trains of 750 metres, two trains on each track”.