There would be no need for Recovery Fund funds or state funds. Here’s how it would be funded and how long it could take to build.
As reported by the newspaper “La Sicilia”, the WeBuild Managing Director Paolo Salini of WeBuild, formerly Salini-Impregilo, declared his willingness to build the bridge without state funds: “We are able to do the bridge we can also start immediately“, without the need to insert the Messina Strait Bridge among the works to be financed with the Recovery Fund. He also added that if the “Genoa model” were used, the infrastructure could be built in 4 years.
In recent months, meetings have taken place between the regional councilors for infrastructure, Marco Falcone and Domenica Catalfamo, Salini and the managers of WeBuild to provide an overview of the review of the project and the new financial plan. WeBuild would be able to support the 4 billion investment planned for the construction of the bridge with the formula of project financing, while the remaining 2 billion, for land infrastructures, would be provided by the regions of Sicily and Calabria with their own resources or through the financial market.
The bridge would have the longest single span in the world, 3,330 meters, for a total length of 3,660 meters. The expected height for the towers is 399 meters, the deck width of 61 meters and the free height for the transit of ships of 65 meters. The 4 cables that connect the towers at the ends of the bridge will extend a total of 5,230 meters with almost 42,000 steel wires for each cable. 60,000 trains and 6 million vehicles are expected to pass through the bridge over the Strait every year.
ALESSANDRO VIDALI