Italy begins to reap the 'rotten fruits' of the mafia that has controlled the construction sector since the 1960s.
The collapse of a bridge in Genoa on August 14, which killed 43 people, is the latest sign of Italy’s construction infrastructure problems. According to the National Statistics Office, more than 2 million homes in the country are at risk of collapse and more than 156 school roofs have collapsed in the past five years.
The Morandi Bridge, considered an engineering masterpiece when it opened in 1967, was the twelfth bridge to collapse in Italy since 2004. The problems are largely the result of the construction boom of the 1960s, when bridges, Roads, buildings and schools were constructed, often with inferior material to increase profits for contractors associated with mafia bosses.
“There is no doubt that the construction boom of the 1960s contributed to worsening the situation. The houses, buildings, viaducts, among other public works, were built in areas subject to landslides and earthquakes, close to cliffs and in places with underground water,” said Maurizio Carta, professor of urban planning at the University of Palermo.
In 2009, landslides and floods in the province of Messina, in northern Sicily, caused the death of 37 residents and injuries to 95 people.
The poor road infrastructure in southern Italy also worries experts. The construction companies, many of which collaborated with the mafia for years, used an excess of water in the mixture of calcareous and clayey substances in the manufacture of cement, and rarely reinforced concrete, a more expensive material.
Of the 12 bridges that collapsed in recent years, four were located in Sicily, and two were investigated by public prosecutors on suspicion of using inferior material.
Several tunnels and bridges are being investigated for the same reason in Calabria. “During the analysis of the sampling of tunnels and bridges, I found cement blocks with a resistance three times lower than the standard recommended in constructions,” Nicola Gratteri, the prosecutor responsible for investigating the mafia in the Calabria region, told the newspaper The Guardian.
“These public works were built by the 'Ndrangheta, the mafia that has controlled the construction sector since the 1960s. The construction sector is the 'Ndrangheta's second most profitable activity after drug trafficking.”
By The Guardian
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