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Italy OKs $15.5B project to build suspension bridge from mainland to Sicily
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- ungreased0675 1y ago>Environmental groups have lodged complaints with the EU, citing concerns that the project will impact migratory birds Seems like environmental groups oppose absolutely any infrastructure construction. It really dilutes actual concerns, because they get categorized into the “usual complaints” bucket.
- pxmpxm 1y ago> dilutes actual concerns Lots of hammer+sickle and palestinian flags in the protests; everyone needs a hobby?
- lormayna 1y agoPalestine flags just replaced Che Guevara t-shirts in the pantheon of far left myths
- dzhiurgis 1y agoYou'd get instantly sent to HR for even remotely talking about this in NZ and Australia, yet completely normal in most of Europe.
- FirmwareBurner 1y ago>everyone needs a hobby? They would need a job first. Where do these unemployed people have the money for all this action? I still don't get why we don't investigate who is funding these groups. Tinfoil-hat version of me believes at the core of all these protests groups and NGOs that negatively affect EU development and seek to economically, socially and politically destabilize it, lies funding from Russia, China and maybe US(AID) since they're the most likely to profit from this.
- pxmpxm 1y ago>who is funding these groups Permanently noncontributing grand-grand-grand-grand offspring of 19th century robber barons seem to be over represented on the funding side (off the top of my head: tides foundation, woodcock foundation)
- zoklet-enjoyer 1y agoI saw a video about how crazy of an engineering challenge this will be. I guess the pricetag is evidence of that. I hope it pays off for them.
- davidelettieri 1y agoIt won't pay off. It is a gift to mafia.
- lormayna 1y agoWeBuilt, the general contractor, is one of the biggest building companies in the world. They even built a part of Panama Channel expansion. Why do you think that they are mafiosi? Personally I don't know if this bridge would be useful or not, but I think that refuse to building it just because mafia risk it's a stupid reason. Italy has a strong law and control system to prevent that and I remembered exactly the same argument about Bologna-Firenze high speed train tunnel and highways that after almost 20 years are successful infrastructures.
- davidelettieri 1y agoThe problem is not WeBuilt, issues usually arise with subcontracting. Calabria is home of Ndrangheta https://www.interpol.int/en/Crimes/Organized-crime/Projects/INTERPOL-cooperation-against-Ndrangheta-I-CAN-Phase-2 https://www.interpol.int/en/Crimes/Organized-crime/Projects/... Ndrangheta is a huge criminal organization with ties to politics and a lot of economic power and it is based in Calabria. The current government actively proposed special antimafia rules for checking contractors and subcontractors for the bridge which, IMHO, reinforce the idea that it is a gift to mafia. Luckily the proposal was rejected by the president https://en.ilsole24ore.com/art/strait-bridge-no-derogation-anti-mafia-rules-vigour-salvini-will-ask-for-maximum-rigour-AHAuTUt https://en.ilsole24ore.com/art/strait-bridge-no-derogation-a... We already had issues with ndrangheta and infrastructures for example https://transparency.eu/the-eternally-unfinished-highway/ https://transparency.eu/the-eternally-unfinished-highway/ or https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioia_Tauro https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioia_Tauro All of this only on one side of the bridge, on the other you have Sicily. I think that there are reasonable doubts about mafia interference with the construction of the bridge.
- seper8 1y ago15.5 billion? Who would spend 25 billion on a bridge? Wow, amazing how they think a 35 billion bridge to Sicily would be worth it.
- maremmano 1y agodon't worry it will be 45 billion but we won't build it anyway. But you know, between expropriations, bribes, friends of friends, projects, etc. some money will have to be spent.
- stefantalpalaru 1y ago[dead]
- brcmthrowaway 1y agoWhy wouldnt you build a tunnel, just like Sydney harbour tunnel or transbay tunnel?
- lormayna 1y agoSeabed is deep and problematic to build a tunnel.
- matttsssss 1y agoIt might be too short for a tunnel, the dive on the island side would be too steep for trains. But that’s just an engineering challenge so relocating and reclaiming some land so it fits would be a better idea.
- jessekv 1y agoB1M covered this. The video has a fun animation of the political history too: https://www.theb1m.com/video/italys-12bn-bridge-mystery https://www.theb1m.com/video/italys-12bn-bridge-mystery
- dzhiurgis 1y agoLoved that one. We need something like this for NZ's south and north islands and so far ships are by far the best option. Maybe some semi submersible, low-safety tube for cargo could make sense tho, but I'm not holding my breath. New government cancelled $1.45b ferry replacement project for cost blowout and everyone expects it to cost even more.
- polski-g 1y agoWhy are they spending 16bn dollars on transit infrastructure for a population that won't exist in 2 generations? Italy has one of the lowest TFRs in Europe. They should be spending infinites amount of money fixing that instead of bridges to graveyards.
- fl7305 1y agoCFR is usually higher than TFR
- Ekaros 1y agoNever thought about it, but Sicily is actually surprisingly close to Italy. There is probably worse ways to use money around.
- heraldgeezer 1y agoHope it includes rail/train like Öresund-bridge.