The warning of the Anac for the works on the bridge. Salvini: we go on – Corriere.it

New front of the president of the Anac, Giuseppe Busia, against the government and in particular the minister of infrastructures, Matteo Salvini. If a few weeks ago the number one of the anti-corruption authority had railed against the new procurement code, now he has harshly censured the decree law for the construction of the bridge over the strait. And he did so in Parliament, in the Chamber to be precise, where the committee hearings are taking place on the text approved by the Council of Ministers on 16 March. For Busia, the decree needs to be profoundly corrected because it assigns too many advantages to the consortium of private companies Eurolink, led by Webild, in charge of carrying out the work.

The decree law on the bridge over the Strait of Messina – said Busia – doing precisely the private project of 2011, resulted in an advantageous position of the private general contractor. The 2011 project was recognized as valid in 2023, avoiding the public tender and without having resolved the previous dispute that arose after the Monti government had decided in 2012 not to build the bridge any more. Busia therefore asked Parliament to introduce precise obligations for the general contractor: If you want to avoid the tender, you must respect the provisions of article 72 of the European directive, which sets an insurmountable limit, namely that the increase in costs must not exceed 50% of what was originally foreseen (4 billion and 300 million in 2002, which rose to 8 billion in 2011). Instead, added the president of Anac, with the decree a considerable bargaining power was assigned to private individuals, because with a simple report they will be able to decide the necessary adjustments and therefore the costs of the work. Finally, Busia accuses, the decree does not establish obligations on the part of the general contractor regarding the times for carrying out the work, the costs, the assumption of all the risks. Other changes, he added the number one of the anti-corruption, would serve to avoid harmful subcontracting cascade.

The Ministry of Infrastructure has indirectly replied with a note where yes reiterates that the bridge is a challenge that Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Matteo Salvini intends to win, after decades of studies and debates. Great satisfaction is also expressed for the reassurances on the quality of the project, on the benefits of the work on the territory, on the determination of the Regions that emerged in the numerous hearings of these days. Among which, yesterday, that of the director of Webuild Engineering, Michele Longo, who spoke of the bridge over the Strait as a strategic work, immediately ready for construction and a driving force for economic growth, assigned at the end of a long international tender process in 2005.

It will be the longest suspension bridge in the world and the Eurolink consortium referred to Webuild leader, made up of an international grouping of companies among the most qualified in the world. The time to build the work will be just over 6 years and the workers potentially employable over the life of the project can be estimated at over 100,000, including the related industries generated in Sicily and Calabria, said Longo.