Chinese bridges: from Sicily to Gozo

The same company which has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maltese government to conduct a €4 million-feasibility study on a bridge linking Gozo to Malta, had also expressed an interest in the construction of a controversial bridge between Sicily and the mainland.

The bridge between Messina and the mainland was a pet project of the Silvio Berlusconi government but was firmly opposed by civil society activists due to fears that it would simply provide the Sicilian mafia further opportunities for its money laundering operations. The project was, however, put in suspended animation for two years by the Monti government. 

The decision was taken in view of strong doubts on the financial feasibility of the project, as well as mounting concern on its geological stability (especially due to the risk posed by earthquakes, which are not uncommon in the region).

Preliminary studies on the viability of the project have already cost the Italian public purse €13 million. The bridge is estimated to cost €6.1 billion.

But just two days after the suspension of the project, Giuseppe Zamberletti, president of the Stretto di Messina spa, the company responsible for the project, announced that the China Investment Corporation was interested in financing the project. He also mentioned interest from China Communications and Construction Company in the project.

An MoU was also signed between CCCC and the Italian company in Istanbul which was described "as a sign of interest in the market" but which appeared noncommittal.

But only on 2 November 2012, former Economy Minister Corrado Passera dismissed reports of Chinese interest in the project, sticking to the government's decision to suspend the project for two years.

"The project is not yet technically and financially sustainable," Passera said. In recent elections, opposition to the bridge was one of the issues raised by Beppe Grillo's 5-Star movement, which considers the bridge to be a "gift" to organised crime. Left-wing leader Nicki Vendola had described the bridge as "a bridge between two mafias": the one in Calabria and the one in Sicily.

The new coalition government between centre left and centre right - formed after inconclusive elections in February - has stuck to decision to shelve the project.

The Stretto di Messina spa now destined for dissolution while the project has been downgraded in the list of Italian priorities for the TEN T European network. 

The Chinese construction giants have been blacklisted by the World Bank till 2017 for engaging in alleged collusion in tendering process in the Philippines. 

MaltaToday revealed this on Monday three days after the Maltese government signed an MoU with the company, in the presence of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. The government insists that it has no strings attached to the company, as the company will not be paid by the Maltese government and is expecting nothing in return for its studies.

CCCC has been implicated in a bribery case involving Arafat 'Koko' Rahman, son of a former Prime Minister of Bangladesh who has been found guilty of bribery. It was also found guilty by a Malaysian court of cheating a local company by divulging its studies to a competitor.

The company was also awarded multi million direct orders in Jamaica and Guyana.

The controversial US$400 million Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme was repeatedly under the scrutiny of the country's auditor general Pamela Monroe Ellis, who uncovered a series of irregularities.