Need for clear Messina Bridge costs and time frame-Busia (3)

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 18 - The costs and time frame for building a planned bridge linking Sicily and Calabria across the Strait of Messina need to be clearly set out, Giuseppe Busia, the president of Italy's anti-corruption agency ANAC, said during a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday In the decree paving the way for construction "the costs are not defined and it is not clear what contractual rules will apply," Busia told the House Environment and Transport committees in a joint session.
    "We need to bind the general contractor to time and cost in order to comply with European regulations and protect the public interest," he added.
    It will be necessary "to monitor subcontracting in particular, both for reasons of legality and for technical reasons," continued Busia.
    Further, Italy's anti-corruption chief insisted on the need to "verify" companies against existing white lists of suppliers that have complied with anti-graft rules and to "digitize" the procedure "to make it transparent and verifiable".
    Parliament is in the process of converting into law a decree passed by Premier Giorgia Meloni's cabinet in mid-March resurrecting the Messina Bridge project, which has been considered by many past governments but has never moved beyond the planning stage due to fears of corruption and mafia infiltration, seismic concerns, environmental concerns and the hefty price tag.
    The DEF economic blueprint approved by the government last Tuesday put the revised and updated costs at 13.5 billion euros excluding "complementary and optimization works" to the rail connections" on the Sicily and Calabria sides of the bridge, which would allegedly cost a further 1.1 billion euros. (ANSA).