It will connect the continent to Sicily: Italy is to build the world's largest suspension bridge

The Italian government is expected to give final approval on Wednesday, August 6, to a €13.5 billion project to build the world's longest suspension bridge, linking the island of Sicily to the mainland.

Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini said a ministerial committee would give the green light to the state-funded bridge spanning the Strait of Messina, marking a "historic page" after decades of planning.

With two railway tracks in the center and three traffic lanes on each side, the bridge is designed with two twin cables stretched between two 400-meter-high towers, with a suspended span of 3,300 meters, a world record.

Scheduled for completion by 2032, the government claims it is an engineering feat, capable of withstanding strong winds and earthquakes in a region located at the junction of two tectonic plates.

The government hopes it will bring economic growth and jobs to two poor Italian regions, Sicily and Calabria, with Mr Salvini promising the project will create tens of thousands of jobs.

Several false starts

The project, however, has sparked local protests over its environmental impact and its price, with critics saying the money could be better used elsewhere.

Some critics also believe it will never see the light of day, recalling the long history of public works announced, financed and never completed in Italy.

The bridge itself has had several false starts, with the first plans being drawn up more than 50 years ago.

Eurolink, a consortium led by the Italian group Webuild, won the tender in 2006, but it was canceled following the eurozone debt crisis. However, the consortium remains the contractor for the revived project.

This time, Rome has an additional incentive to move forward: it has classified the cost of the bridge as a defense expense.

Debt-ridden Italy has agreed, along with other NATO allies, to massively increase its defense spending to 5% of GDP, at the request of US President Donald Trump.

Of this amount, 1.5% can be allocated to "defense-related" areas, such as cybersecurity and infrastructure, and Rome hopes that the Messina bridge will be eligible, especially since Sicily is home to a NATO base.