Strait of Messina Bridge a fundamental work for the South of Italy and Italy as a whole 

Webuild invests in training to create the sector's future professionals, three advanced training centres in Italy 

Rome, January 10, 2024 – "Italy must become a strategic Mediterranean hub that is evermore central for global trade, with infrastructural investments that create new jobs, skills and are capable of attracting new talents. To design the competitive Italy of the next 30 years, we need a choral effort between Italy's public administration, companies, and universities. This is in fact the integrated system that feeds legality, transparency, safety, and development".

These were the words that Webuild CEO Pietro Salini spoke during the "Palermo/Helsinki: il corridoio con il Ponte sullo Stretto per lo sviluppo sostenibile del Mezzogiorno d’Europa (Palermo/Helsinki: the corridor with the Strait of Messina Bridge for the sustainable development of Southern Europe) meeting, which took place in Reggio Calabria. The meeting was promoted by the "Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Reggio Calabria" (Engineer Register of the Province of Reggio Calabria), and the Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria with the Civil Engineering, Energy, Environment and Materials Department. The event also saw the following people intervening: Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini; Italian Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Edoardo Rixi; Calabria Region President Roberto Occhiuto; Stretto di Messina CEO Pietro Ciucci; the Chairman and CEO of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, respectively, Dario Lo Bosco and Gianpiero Strisciuglio; ANAS CEO Aldo Isi; and the following mayors: Giuseppina Caminiti (Villa San Giovanni), Giuseppe Falcomatà (Reggio Calabria), Federico Basile (Messina). 

Salini then continued to say that Italy's infrastructural strengthening must begin from the south of the nation. He then also affirmed that “Our ongoing Italian projects have seen the involvement of 10,500 companies that work with us both in Italy and also abroad, and which therefore also expanded their export capacity". “After many years where everything had stopped, now infrastructural investments have also started again in the South of Italy, where Webuild is currently building 19 projects. Just like the high-speed railway, which after the Naples-Bari section will reach Calabria, or the high-capacity rail on the Palermo-Catania-Messina route. Our projects in the South of Italy saw the involvement of 3,900 companies of our supply chain and 4,700 people (direct and indirect personnel), with a total of 16,500 people working in Italy on 31 large infrastructure projects".

A project for the South of Italy that wishes to connect Sicily to the rest of Italy and to Europe: “The Scandinavian-Mediterranean European Corridor that links Helsinki to Palermo is a crucial north-south axis for Europe's economy and it must pass through the Strait of Messina. High-speed rail must be a priority for the South of Italy, with the Strait of Messina Bridge as the natural connection that joins the high-speed railway that reaches Reggio Calabria to Sicily's railway lines. The Strait of Messina Bridge is a work that will serve Italy as a whole, and it in fact represents the greatest engineering project ever to be built and of which Italy will be surely very proud".

Salini then concluded by saying that "If we wish to be competitive in the infrastructural sector, we must first invest in training to create the required skills also for people coming from other sectors. And this is why we created Cantiere Lavoro Italia. Webuild will hire 10,000 people in the next three-years. Of these, 88% will be hired in the South of Italy, where we are creating advanced training centres because we need qualified professionals who must also apply innovative tools and processes during the construction phases. There is a need to attract resources to our sector to support Italy's growth. The Group currently employs 85,000 people (direct and indirect personnel), with an average age of 38 years, and 45% of our resources are under 35", concluded Salini.