Italy today secured the final approval on the long-delayed €13.5 billion Strait of Messina bridge linking mainland Italy with Sicily.

The Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development confirmed the project’s feasibility. Construction could begin once the decision becomes officially executable — likely in a few months.

The infrastructure ministry, under Matteo Salvini, heralded the bridge’s potential to “revive the south and Italy as a whole,” citing expected benefits such as job creation, increased GDP, tourism growth and advancements in research and innovation.

The Italian government is also touting the bridge as strategically significant, aiming for it to be including in new NATO defense spending targets.

However, the effort to classify the bridge as a military object is leading to blowback both within Italy and among NATO countries. In Brussels, a senior EU official said the bridge is not currently considered a priority for military mobility.

Efforts to build the bridge have stalled repeatedly. Former PM Silvio Berlusconi tried to revive the project in 2005, but it was canceled a year later under Prime Minister Romano Prodi. The scheme was again scuttled by the 2011 economic crisis, but the current government of PM Giorgia Meloni resurrected it in 2023.

The 3.3-kilometer bridge has faced other challenges — from cost issues to seismic risks and the difficulty in relocating residents. Now, Italian officials say the new designation will help overcome these obstacles.