Strait of Messina Bridge: Final design approved. Salvini: "There will be a metro with three stops."

It takes a while to arrive, as is fitting for major occasions. It's 1:16 PM when the white smoke reaches the Strait of Messina Bridge . Matteo Salvini rejoices, announcing it before even entering the press room, ready to celebrate what he called "a historic day." A statement announces that the CIPESS (Italian Committee for the Protection of the Environment, Transport and Infrastructure) has approved the final project for the Messina Strait Bridge, "which includes detailed documentation presented by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport." Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is also present at the meeting of the inter-ministerial committee that gave the green light to the project.

“It will be the longest single-span bridge in the world”

Salvini says that "it will be the longest single-span bridge in the world. Such infrastructure is an accelerator of development." "This isn't a point of arrival, but a starting point, coming after two and a half years of constant work. It's exciting because," he recalls, "we've never reached final financing."

"120 thousand jobs"

For Salvini, "the bridge will be part of the solution to the problems of southern Italy. Studies estimate it will create 120,000 jobs per year, and it will also have enormous environmental benefits. It's the largest public work project in the West currently underway."

“There will be a metro with three stops”

The Deputy Prime Minister emphasizes that "there will be a subway system across the Strait, with three stops on the Messina side connecting students, commuters, and tourists." But this infrastructure won't just boost the economies of Sicily and Calabria. Indeed, "Lombardy will be the leading region for business involvement," Salvini announces. "But then there will be businesses from Veneto, Romagna, and Lazio. As for professional training, it will primarily involve Sicily and Calabria, among the regions with the highest youth unemployment rates. Today, an engineer who graduates in Sicily or Calabria can, alas, choose where to emigrate. Today, we are investing more than double the cost of the bridge in Sicily and Calabria, investments in water infrastructure."

“Start construction between September and October”

Regarding the start of construction, Salvini explains: "Obviously, the Court of Auditors' approval is needed, so the goal is to start construction in September and October. Summer ends on September 21st."

“Crossing expected between 2032 and 2033”

The deputy prime minister also speculates on the project's completion date: "Our goal is to complete the crossing between 2032 and 2033." A two-year period that Salvini considers particularly significant "because it will be the same time period in which Romans will be able to take the metro from Piazza Venezia and reach the Olympic Stadium. The same timeframe in which Turin will be able to reach Lyon." Regarding the controversy surrounding the major project, Salvini is clear: "In Chinese or American media, this project will be discussed from an engineering perspective. Here, however, some see the largest public work in the West as a problem." The Almasri case? The clash with the magistrates? "If I were in your shoes," the minister tells reporters, "I would have asked the same questions. But put yourself in my shoes: today is a historic day, and all anyone is talking about is the Bridge."

The reactions

Following the CIPESS approval, the first reactions have come in. The opposition is fierce. "This is far from a historic day: today is a sad day for Southern Italy and for the entire country," says Democrat Anthony Barbagallo . "The CIPESS approval of the final project for the Strait of Messina Bridge represents a colossal waste of public resources, a monument to Salvini's futility and propaganda. It's an old, contested project, unfeasible in the timeframe and manner described, and it wipes out the true priorities of Southern Italy with a single stroke."

Five Star Movement Senator Pietro Lorefice commented: "The government has found €13.5 billion for the Strait of Messina Bridge, officially authorized today by CIPESS, while €17.2 billion is still missing for the Salerno-Reggio Calabria high-speed rail line to complete a crucial project to prevent a 20-hour train journey from the 'deep South' to the capital. It's shameful to prioritize a project without a plan, anything other than creating a bridge of lazy days, when railway infrastructure remains unfunded and stuck on a dead-end track."

For Angelo Bonelli of AVS, this is "a project that represents the greatest waste of public money ever seen in Italy: €14.6 billion from citizens, without a single euro of private investment. Not even Berlusconi dared so much. It's Matteo Salvini's masterpiece, throwing billions into concrete and propaganda."