Italy's anti-corruption chief said
Thursday the project to build what would be the world's longest
suspension bridge across the Messina Strait between Sicily and
mainland Italy posed too many risks for the public purse.
The project has been long delayed amid fears of mafia
infiltration and graft, as well as seismic and environmental
concerns.
In the decree on the Strait Bridge "we detect an imbalance in
the relationship between the public grantor and the private
party, to the detriment of the public, on which most of the
risks end up being transferred", said National Anti-Corruption
Authority (ANAC) president Giuseppe Busia in presenting ANAC's
annual report on the Anticorruption Authority's activities to
Parliament.
On the decree, which is based on a project drawn up more than
ten years ago, Busia said ANAC had proposed a number of
amendments to "strengthen the guarantees of the public party,
which were not, however, accepted by the government when the
decree was converted into law".
In other points, Busia said the renegotiation of some measures
in the massive EU-funded post-COVID National Recovery and
Resilience Plan (NRRP) would be "decisive" for its
implementation and successful allocation of funding.
He also highlighted "risky short cuts" in the government's
recent reform of the public procurement code.
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