Protests in Sicily against plan to build world’s longest suspension bridge.
The Strait of Messina was shaken by a 2.6-magnitude earthquake on Monday, days after the Italian government greenlit a controversial plan to build a €13.5 billion bridge between Sicily and the mainland.
The tremor was registered in the sea between Reggio Calabria and Messina at 06.30, at a depth of 11 km, according to the National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).
On Saturday, several thousand people marched in the Sicilian city of Messina in protest against the planned bridge, raising concerns about its environmental impact and risk of mafia infiltration as well as its structural viability in an earthquake-prone area.
Last week the governmental economic planning committee CIPESS approved the plan to build what would be the world’s longest suspension bridge, spanning 3.3 kilometres over the Strait of Messina.
Deputy premier and transport minister Matteo Salvini, who resurrected the bridge project after its planned construction was shelved a decade ago over budget constraints, said the landmark structure should be in operation by 2032 or 2033.
Salvini has said the bridge will represent “the crowning glory of Italian engineering” and would be built according to “new technical, safety and environmental standards”.
On Monday afternoon Salvini shared a post citing the approval of the National Council of Geologists for the bridge, as well as a video clip appearing to mock an irate protester, with the caption: “I share with you the calm and in-depth arguments of this expert in public works. Could it be the heat…?”
The Italian government recently announced that it will seek to classify the Ponte as a strategic military asset amid a push to meet NATO’s five per cent GDP defence expenditure target.
Plans to undertake the massive infrastructure project, rejected by previous governments due to high costs and engineering impracticability, date back to Roman times.
