Genoa bridge without tender OK-antitrust

(ANSA) - Rome, October 8 - Filippo Arena, the secretary general of Italy's antitrust authority, said Monday that the government's decision to award the contract to build the viaduct in Genoa that will replace the collapsed Morandi bridge without a public tender was justifiable. He also said the decision to exclude highways company Autostrade per l'Italia (ASPI) from the reconstruction project was acceptable. "In the current situation, the awarding (of the work) via a negotiated procedure seems justified," Arena told a Lower House session on the government's decree for Genoa after the August disaster in which 43 people died. "This way of working must be limited to what is strictly necessary to address the urgent situation and, in any case, must respect the principles of transparency and non-discrimination". He said the exclusion of the company with the concession to collect tolls on this stretch of highway could be justified, but the exclusion of other concessionaries would not be.