A court in Italy has ruled that plans to build the world's largest suspension bridge between mainland Italy and the island of Sicily violate environmental standards and EU tender rules. At the same time, the country's government is not going to abandon this project, UNN reports with reference to Reuters.
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This refers to the construction of a 3666-meter-long bridge across the Strait of Messina. As stated in the publication, this bridge is to surpass the bridge in Turkey, and also bring prosperity to traditionally poorer regions of Italy and facilitate the rapid movement of NATO troops in case of a potential armed conflict between the Alliance and Russia.
At the same time, the Court of Accounts stated that the government failed to justify the violation of environmental requirements regarding the impact on the coastal and marine areas of the island of Sicily and the Calabria region.
It is interesting that the problem of building the bridge has been the subject of national debate in Italy for half a century. Proponents of the construction consider it economically beneficial for the region, while critics argue about wasteful spending and environmental damage in an earthquake-prone region.