'Work to start on Italy-Sicily bridge in December'

Construction of a controversial bridge to link the island of Sicily to mainland Italy will begin in December, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told a Rome news conference yesterday.

The long-delayed plan for what will be the world's longest suspension bridge, spanning the Strait of Messina, has drawn fierce opposition over the projected cost of some €6.1 billion.

Criticism of the project only deepened after devastating floods and mudslides in the region early this month.

The disaster claimed at least 30 lives and left hundreds homeless, prompting renewed calls for investment in structural disaster prevention and the demolition of buildings erected in violation of safety codes.

The opposition was quick to slam the announcement.

"In difficult times such as these, the scant available resources should be concentrated on priority goals such as a wide-scale plan to shore up areas at risk of flooding," said Sergio D'Antoni, the centre-left Democratic Party's pointman for Italy's relatively poor southern region.

Francantonio Genovese, the party's regional secretary there, added: "Sicily and the south have other priorities. To talk about building the Messina Bridge after an environmental disaster... is among other things offensive."

Environmental groups and politicians have long criticised the bridge project as too costly and unnecessary.

After the flooding, President Giorgio Napolitano pointedly called for "a serious plan for safety rather than megaprojects."

The road, rail and pedestrian bridge will be nearly 3.7 kilometres (2.3 miles) long and rise 64 metres above the sea.

Currently the world's longest suspension bridge is Japan's Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, which is nearly two kilometres long.

The conservative Berlusconi backed the project in 2001 at the start of his last stint as Prime Minister, but his centre-left successor Romano Prodi scrapped it in 2006.

Campaigning ahead of last year's elections that handed the media tycoon his third term in office since 1994, Mr Berlusconi vowed to revive the project.