Calabria is home of Ndrangheta 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-a...
We already had issues with ndrangheta and infrastructures for example https://transparency.eu/the-eternally-unfinished-highway/ or 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.
There are many suspects that criminal organisations are involved in the actual ferry management:
https://lespresso.it/c/attualita/2021/2/23/cosi-la-mafia-con...
Whit your mindset we need to stop them as well
But that’s just an engineering challenge so relocating and reclaiming some land so it fits would be a better idea.
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.
Italy has one of the lowest TFRs in Europe. They should be spending infinites amount of money fixing that instead of bridges to graveyards.
ungreased0675•6mo ago
Seems like environmental groups oppose absolutely any infrastructure construction. It really dilutes actual concerns, because they get categorized into the “usual complaints” bucket.
pxmpxm•6mo ago
Lots of hammer+sickle and palestinian flags in the protests; everyone needs a hobby?
lormayna•6mo ago
dzhiurgis•6mo ago
FirmwareBurner•6mo ago
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•6mo ago
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)