The technical director of the Stretto di Messina moves to Anas: Valerio Mele becomes Chief Operating Officer

The technical director of Stretto di Messina leaves the company. On October 1st Valerio Mele will move to Anas, taking on the role of Chief operating officer reporting directly to the CEO Claudio Andrea Gemme, in a role defined by the bridge concessionaire company as "the company's highest technical summit", also obtained thanks to the "great experience gained" in the project of the maxi-connection between Calabria and Sicily.

The change was expected for some time, fully shared by the parties, and will not influence in any way the timing and future of the Bridge, they assure from the Strait of Messina. The company has within itself the adequate resources to carry out the executive planning and for this reason, they say, "the project will not be affected" by Mele's new role. On the contrary. The transition coincides with the start of the investigation at Cipess in the next few days, which will open a new phase for the development of the project.

The second resolution of the Interministerial Committee is necessary after the rejection last autumn from the Court of Auditors which did not grant legitimacy to the first resolution respectively. Since then, the times initially foreseen for the grounding of the most symbolic of the great works desired by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini have inevitably been extended. The government had to intervene in March this year with an ad hoc decree to reiterate the political and financial commitment to the construction of the Bridge and to comply with the findings expressed by the Court, establishing the obligations to be carried out with the aim of obtaining full registration.

The steps have now been completed: in May the Court of Auditors itself issued the legitimacy approval on the program agreement between the MIT, the MEF, the Sicilian Region and the Calabria Region, RFI, Anas and the Strait of Messina company; in the same month the favorable opinion of the Transport Regulatory Authority on the economic and financial plan was obtained, while in August the EU Commission confirmed the correct application of the procurement directive. The green light also came in August from the Superior Council of Public Works, which approved the next phase of the executive planning.

Everything is therefore ready for the second Cipess resolution, initially announced by the MIT in September but now expected by October, to be submitted again to the Court of Auditors. Once the approval of the accounting magistrates has been obtained and the resolution has been published in the Official Journal, the company will be ready to start with the so-called 'advance works' at its expense and with the executive planning entrusted to Eurolink.

The objective, considering the times for the examination of the new documents by the Court, is to start reasonably in December. The timetable for the construction of the Bridge foresees 7.5 years. 2034 could therefore be the first year in which Calabria and Sicily will be effectively connected.