Rome, 14 October (AKI) - Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday that construction of the Messina bridge connecting the Island of Sicily and the Italian mainland will begin between December this year and January 2010.

"In December-January we will begin that great and fundamental piece of infrastructure for Sicily, which is the bridge on the Strait of Messina," said Berlusconi on Wednesday.

The suspension bridge connecting the island of Sicily and the southern Italian region of Reggio Calabria is slated to cost around 6 billion euros and should help kick start Italy's sluggish economy.

However, many residents fear the money will benefit construction companies with Mafia links and that the bridge will be worthless because of the lack of good roads nearby.

If and when it is completed, the bridge will be the longest suspension bridge in the world, at over 3.3 kilometres in length.

Berlusconi also said that Italy must "wake up from a long sleep" that has had negative economic consequences.


"Our country must wake up from this long dream that has brought its public accounts to an absolutely negative state"

Italy’s public debt, the world’s third-biggest, is equivalent to over 104 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product.

Italy's unemployment rate rose to 7.4 percent in the second quarter of 2009, its highest level since 2005.

The number of people unemployed rose to 1.18 million from 1.7 million a year earlier as the country failed to recover from the worst recession since World War II.

The worst job losses were recorded predominantly in the less developed south of the country where 71 percent of the 378,000 total job losses were recorded.

Unemployment in the south now stands at 12 percent, compared to 6.7 percent in central Italy and 5.0 percent in the north.