Strait of Messina Crossing by submerged floating tunnels*. Cost/benefit analysis

The core of the project consists of three submerged floating tunnels, one for rail and two for road transport. This technology at the frontier of the present engineering capabilities has been proposed by a consortium of Eni Company. The huge infrastructure would connect Sicily to Calabria and Continental Italy and Europe and would require such a large investment that can only be justified if it would bring about comparable social and economic benefits. The evaluation of these effect required the development of a specific “cost-benefit analysis”, whose methodology and results are presented in this paper. This approach provides an evaluation of costs and benefits completely different from that obtainable by a typical profitability analysis, that is conducted with the point of view of a private investor. In the cost-benefit analysis the point of view is that of national community, that is the whole of subjects involved in the project, either public or private, either social or economic, either individual or communities. Economic results were very promising with an economic rate of return of about 18%, that favourably can be compared with a social discount rate of 8% (estimated for Italy). In addition, during the thirteen years of project construction, we can estimate a steady increase of 8000 jobs for direct employment and of about 13000 jobs for indirect employment. The increased income in the area, estimated at about 11500 MUS$, is almost entirely attributable to the project construction.