This article is a bit of Italy bashing and mafia controls everything .
The project is currently estimated to cost €6 billion which fades into comparison with the sitting duck HS2 project in England estimated to now cost from £40 billion up to £100 billion should the full project ever materialise.
And is the UK mafia free ? What about Lord Mone PPE scandal for starters .
Back to the bridge . This is an instrumental infrastructure project which would link Sicily to mainland Italy . Connectivity is crucial for economic progress . Indeed Romano Prodi (socialist) also attempted to revive the project before Berlusconi , where work had actually started until his government collapsed .
Back to the HS2 nightmare . Are you aware that Italy already has TWO such fast speed trains up and down both coasts and from Milano to Venice - Frecciarossa and Italo which started operating some eight years ago . Nowhere near £40 billion was spent , mafia and all .
Also , this prejudice against Meloni is so unfounded and unfair . Have you heard of a certain Boris , and his antics ?
Hi, David, nice to hear from you and have you as a reader. The overrun on HS2 is indeed typical of such projects and scandalous. I am no defender of Lady Mone and Boris and all those shenanigans, and I am rather keen on Giorgia Meloni, I have to say, because I hope she represents a break with the past. But this bridge project leaves me unconvinced. Italy, and not just Italy, has a long history of public works programmes which are cattedrali nel deserto (what we call white elephants), and a long history of clientismo. I think Meloni has consented to this as a sop to her ally Salvini, and I am prepared to bet the bridge never gets built. Shall we discuss again in about ten years time?
The very last thing Italy and Sicily need is this damned bridge. The country is sick with horrible problems such as its schools, hospitals, railway, roadways and plenty of other important things altogether neglected and actually harmed by the country's inept, corrupt rulers over the years. What the bridge is really needed for, the one and only thing, is to create public debt. This will plunder even more monies from Italy's tormented populace, monies that will go straight to international bankers. The bridge is, Alas, a dirty, wicked plot. By the way, the ferries that connect Sicily with Italy work very well and have done so for a long, long time. There is no need for a bridge. Except to create debt.
It would hardly be the longest bridge in the world. The Straits are only 3 km wide: even the Second Severn Crossing is 5km long. Yesterday I crossed from Hong Kong to Macau on a bridge that is 55km long and the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge on the Beijing to Shanghai high-speed rail is 164km long.
Yes indeed. I think this is a bit of governmental boasting. I think their justification is that it would have the longest unsupported span of any bridge, but even this may not be true. It is a possibility, is it not, that the project may be another Channel Tunnel, i.e. we we all wonder when it is done why it took so long, not why it was done at all. But like HS2 the price will rise and rise, one suspects. Incidentally I am in favour of HS2.
This article is a bit of Italy bashing and mafia controls everything .
The project is currently estimated to cost €6 billion which fades into comparison with the sitting duck HS2 project in England estimated to now cost from £40 billion up to £100 billion should the full project ever materialise.
And is the UK mafia free ? What about Lord Mone PPE scandal for starters .
Back to the bridge . This is an instrumental infrastructure project which would link Sicily to mainland Italy . Connectivity is crucial for economic progress . Indeed Romano Prodi (socialist) also attempted to revive the project before Berlusconi , where work had actually started until his government collapsed .
Back to the HS2 nightmare . Are you aware that Italy already has TWO such fast speed trains up and down both coasts and from Milano to Venice - Frecciarossa and Italo which started operating some eight years ago . Nowhere near £40 billion was spent , mafia and all .
Also , this prejudice against Meloni is so unfounded and unfair . Have you heard of a certain Boris , and his antics ?
Hi, David, nice to hear from you and have you as a reader. The overrun on HS2 is indeed typical of such projects and scandalous. I am no defender of Lady Mone and Boris and all those shenanigans, and I am rather keen on Giorgia Meloni, I have to say, because I hope she represents a break with the past. But this bridge project leaves me unconvinced. Italy, and not just Italy, has a long history of public works programmes which are cattedrali nel deserto (what we call white elephants), and a long history of clientismo. I think Meloni has consented to this as a sop to her ally Salvini, and I am prepared to bet the bridge never gets built. Shall we discuss again in about ten years time?
The very last thing Italy and Sicily need is this damned bridge. The country is sick with horrible problems such as its schools, hospitals, railway, roadways and plenty of other important things altogether neglected and actually harmed by the country's inept, corrupt rulers over the years. What the bridge is really needed for, the one and only thing, is to create public debt. This will plunder even more monies from Italy's tormented populace, monies that will go straight to international bankers. The bridge is, Alas, a dirty, wicked plot. By the way, the ferries that connect Sicily with Italy work very well and have done so for a long, long time. There is no need for a bridge. Except to create debt.
It would hardly be the longest bridge in the world. The Straits are only 3 km wide: even the Second Severn Crossing is 5km long. Yesterday I crossed from Hong Kong to Macau on a bridge that is 55km long and the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge on the Beijing to Shanghai high-speed rail is 164km long.
Yes indeed. I think this is a bit of governmental boasting. I think their justification is that it would have the longest unsupported span of any bridge, but even this may not be true. It is a possibility, is it not, that the project may be another Channel Tunnel, i.e. we we all wonder when it is done why it took so long, not why it was done at all. But like HS2 the price will rise and rise, one suspects. Incidentally I am in favour of HS2.