Salvini rules out calling Strait Bridge after Berlusconi

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 7 - Deputy Premier, Transport Minister and rightwing League party leader Matteo Salvini on Friday ruled out calling the projected bridge over the Messina Strait to link Sicily to mainland Italy after its first and long-time fervent proponent, late three time ex premier and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi.
    The off-on and long-delayed project, which has been hampered by environmental, seismic and mafia concerns, is projected to start work by the end of the year, said Salvini, who has resurrected the scheme to build what would be the world's longest suspension bridge.
    "Silvio is one of the greats, and he tried too, and then it ended the way it did," said the infrastructure minister.
    "But calling the bridge after a politicians is wrong, no, it is a bridge of the Italians, and then the Sicilians the Calabresi will choose".
    Salvini said work on the "unique in the world" structure would hopefully begin "before the end of he year".
    Last month the European Parliament approved the updated guidelines for the development of the Trans-European Transport Network (Ten-T), which connects over 420 major cities in the EU, and included the bridge in the plan.
    The bridge currently has a price tag of some 14.6 billion euro ($16.14 billion), or about one percent of Italian GDP, and is scheduled to come into use in the late 2030s.
    Berlusconi died on June 16 last year at the age of 86 having dominated and divided Italian public life for oevr three decades. (ANSA).