The Messina Strait Bridge will be built and will be "the pride of all", Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini said Tuesday responding to a complaint filed to prosecutors by the opposition Democratic Party (PD) and Green-Left Alliance (AVS) arguing that the long-delayed and controversial project should be halted again due to an alleged lack of transparency on procedures and funding.
"The No party is shameless: they do not win at the ballot box and so they use the courts trying to stop a work that will bring work, development and growth to Sicily, Calabria and the whole country," said the rightwing League party leader, who has made a banner of the bridge, once a pet project of the late Silvio Berlusconi.
"Let the left get over it: the bridge will be built and it will be a boast for the whole of Italy.
Full steam ahead!" Salvini said recently that the government's 2024 budget provides over 10 billion euros of financial coverage for the project to build a bridge across the Strait of Messina to connect Sicily to the Italian mainland, thus proving doubters wrong.
The government has revived the project to build what would be the world's longest suspension bridge, which had been long delayed due to funding issues as well as fears of mafia infiltration and graft, and seismic and environmental concerns.
The League leader has said the bridge will cost no more than 12 billion euros spread over 15 years.