Salvini says construction site for Strait Bridge within yr

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 21 - The construction site for the Messina Strait Bridge will be opened by the end of the year, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday.
    He said first 239 answers to the same number of queries from the environment ministry would be answered.
    "There are 239 questions from the Ministry of the Environment to which 239 answers will be given by September, so it is clear that if they have taken an extra four months to give all the possible and imaginable environmental guarantees, which is only right that they should, by the end of the year the objective is to approve the final project and start with the construction site," said at the annual meeting of influential catholic lay group Communion and Liberation in Rimini.
    Salvini said last month that he is hopeful the worksites for the project to build the world's longest suspension bridge across the Strait of Messina to connect Sicily to the Italian mainland can be opened by the end of the year.
    Since becoming infrastructure minister in 2022, Salvini has pushed strongly to revive the project, which was mooted by successive past centre-right governments but never actually started due to many factors, including fears of mafia infiltration, environmental concerns, and the significant cost.
    The bridge currently has a price tag of some 14.6 billion euro and is scheduled to come into use in the late 2030s. (ANSA).