"The purpose is clear, to have the construction sites start by the summer of 2024. This is certainly an ambitious goal after 50 years of talk, given the complexity of the work, on which hundreds of engineers are working. Engineers make the bridge, not ministers and parliamentarians". These are the words of Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini, who yesterday answered the question time in the Chamber on costs and timetable for the construction of the Messina Strait Bridge. "Certainly," the vice-premier explained, "it is a challenge for Italy, which will bring us added value at the national and international level with few precedents in the history of the Republic. Moreover, I remind that this is a commitment that those who were there before me made with the European Union, since it concerns a corridor that is not the one between Messina and Villa San Giovanni, but from Palermo to Northern Europe, and I remind that it was in the electoral program that the Italians chose by a large majority". "I remind," Salvini concluded, "that for every billion spent on public works, at least 17,000 real jobs are created in two lands as starved for work, hope, speed and infrastructure as Sicily and Calabria. From my point of view, it is an absolutely necessary work that, after years of neglect by those who were there before, fits into a context in which we are investing 18 billion euros on roads, highways and railways in Sicily and another 18 billion euros on roads, highways and railways in Calabria".
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