Ciucci is confident that the Bridge over the Strait and the issue of large ships: “They will be able to pass”

Last Updated: May 3, 2024

Il Ponte sullo Stretto e la grana delle grandi navi, Ciucci è sicuro: «Potranno passare»

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Grand ships will be able to pass under the Bridge over the Strait of Messina, “The navigable span – assures the CEO of Stretto di Messina, Pietro Ciucci – is 72 meters high by 600 meters wide and reduces to 65 meters only in exceptional conditions of heavy road and rail traffic. These parameters are in line with the existing bridges on major international shipping routes, in accordance with the procedures established by the IMO (International Maritime Organization).” The clarification by Ciucci came in response to Federlogistica President Luigi Merlo, who reiterated today (he had already said it last February) that 65 meters of height are too few for large ships. An assertion that triggered a reaction from Laura Boldrini, a member of the PD party. “Not a day goes by – she says – without news that shows how inadequate and risky the project of the Bridge over the Strait of Messina, so dear to Matteo Salvini, is. The Scientific Committee and the Ministry of the Environment have put it in black and white, highlighting hundreds of critical issues. Can you imagine a bridge under which ships cannot pass? Salvini can.”

Minister Salvini (in the photo in front of the model of the Bridge) for his part is pressing on. “Italy – he said on May 1st – has been waiting for the Bridge over the Strait for a hundred years. It will provide over 100,000 jobs throughout Italy. If we open the construction sites by 2024, as I have committed, it will take seven or eight years of work, with the crossing of the first train, car or motorcycle in 2032.”

What also continues to worry many is the danger of mafia appetites. “To avoid any infiltration in the construction of the Bridge – Ciucci said in an interview – we refer to Giovanni Falcone’s method, follow the money. We will ensure the full traceability of financial flows. We will adopt a whole series of additional checks and precautions, monitor the quarries and deposit sites. All subjects will have to open bank accounts to receive payments.”

Pucci also explained that “in the world there are at least five large single-span bridges called Messina Style because they were built according to our project, which dates back to 2003. Wouldn’t it be time to build a Messina Style bridge also in Messina?” According to the manager, the first stone should be laid in January 2025, “after activities on the territory: the reclamation of sites, archaeological research, the start of construction. The Bridge should be ready by 2032.” Ciucci then addressed the environmentalists, opposed to the Bridge: “The environmental associations’ position is not one of constructive criticism, but essentially ideological. Their goal is simply to prevent the construction of the bridge, despite it being also provided for by Parliament’s laws. I would gladly meet them, but they avoid direct confrontation. Their objections are always the same, that the work is not a priority, that other things must be done first, etc., as for other large infrastructure projects such as high-speed rail. But then when the works are completed, we are all happy: the Mose, the Milan-Rome connections. That’s what I call infrastructural repentance.”