Strait of Messina Bridge, Ciucci: 'Confident on registration by the Court of Auditors'
The CEO of the Stretto di Messina company spoke before the parliamentary committee on the disadvantages of insularity
Key points
The European Council has confirmed the Bridge over the Strait of Messina as a "strategic work" that, as announced, "can be completed in 2033". So said Stretto di Messina CEO Pietro Ciucci before the parliamentary committee on the disadvantages of insularity.
"Waiting for the Court of Auditors' motivations but nothing to date"
"Today we are at the 28th day and, to my knowledge, the motivations have not yet been expressed, motivations to be addressed to the Dipe of the Presidency of the Council," he clarified before the parliamentary committee on the disadvantages of insularity on the stop of the accounting judiciary to the work. "With reference to this fact, which surprised and somewhat embittered us, the government has repeatedly confirmed its intention to continue with the construction of the work," and "we respectfully await the Court's motivations before continuing the process," he said.
"Stop Corte Conti surmountable with conditional registration, but confident"
According to Ciucci, the Corte dei Conti's stop to the Messina Strait Bridge could be overcome with a "government registration with reservations or measures to comply with the motivations" of the accounting magistracy. "This decision is up to the government authorities, the Council of Ministers, to which the company gives full support," Ciucci noted. In any case, he added, "we are confident that we can obtain ordinary registration in the conviction that we have acted in compliance with Italian and European regulations" and "if we have not been clear enough, we will do everything to overcome the misunderstanding" with the Court of Auditors. Finally, Ciucci clarified that "the Court's remarks do not concern engineering or feasibility aspects of the project".
"Bridge overcomes Sicily's insularity disadvantages"
Among the advantages of the Bridge over the Strait of Messina "that are not often mentioned" is the overcoming of the disadvantages linked to Sicily's insularity, he stressed. Insularity "has a calculated cost of around 6 billion a year for Sicily," Ciucci explained, "with an important impact on the regional GDP". "Thinking about this relationship," he added, "also downsizes the magnitude of the 13.5 billion investment" for the construction of the bridge.
