Overview

• Interministerial Cipess cleared the €13.5 billion single-span suspension bridge plan, unlocking full financing and setting a seven-year construction timeline with work due to start in September 2025
• Land expropriation processes have begun in Calabria and Sicily with promises of higher indemnities for affected owners than for other public projects
• Prefectures, the Interior Ministry and prosecutors have been tasked with overseeing the build under strict anti-mafia controls to guard against organized crime infiltration
• A coalition of ‘No Ponte’ activists and allied environmental, labor and political groups has announced a demonstration in Messina to oppose the project and advocate spending on roads, rail and social infrastructure
• Controversy over a proposed €10 toll continues as consumer group Codacons calls it the world’s costliest while international outlets praise the bridge’s projected 6,000 cars per hour, 200 trains per day capacity and creation of 120,000 annual construction jobs