The dream of connecting the Italian peninsula with Sicilydating back to the time of the Roman emperors may soon become a reality. OUR messina bridge it is possible that it will be completed thanks to the coalition government under it Georgia Meloniwho considers its construction a personal matter, CNN reports.

The idea began to revive in 2006, when the then Berlusconi government announced a tender to select a company that will take over this historic project. The contest was then won by the Italian company Salini Impregilo, now called WeBuild. But when the government fell, future Prime Minister Romano Prodi put the plans on hold because he considered the project too costly and harmful to the environment. WeBuild sued the Italian government for breach of contract, but according to Matteo Salvini it is very likely that he will take on the project again, despite the fact that the government has received many proposals “from all over the world, including China.”

Company director Michele Longo was recently invited to the Italian parliament to speak about the project. “Construction of the bridge at Messina can start as soon as the contract is reinstated and renewed,” he said. “The design is expected to take eight months and the time needed to build the bridge will be just over six years,” he added.

The project, which has been on hold for over 15 years, is a private matter for the Meloni government.

The cost of the project is 4.5 billion euros for the bridge alone and 6.75 billion euros for the infrastructure that will support it on both sides, including the modernization of road and rail networks, the construction of terminals, and land and seabed works. on “reducing hydrogeological risks”, according to the plan presented to the Ministry of Transport. In addition, it will be the longest bridge of its kind in the world, with a distance of 3.2 km from one pillar to another.

However, one of the reasons why the project has been blocked in the past are two major criminal organizations on both coasts: Dragenta in Calabria and Cosa Nostra in Sicily. Many fear that there is a risk that the two crime syndicates will be involved in the construction of the bridge in different ways.

The recent capture of historic Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro is a win. Denaro was opposed to the construction of the bridge, in part because he benefited from the poverty and underdevelopment of Sicily. “I am not afraid of criminals,” Matteo Salvini said recently. “There will be authorities that will control every euro invested in the bridge,” he added.