In February, Italian transport ministry officials were warned of weakness in Genoa’s collapsed bridge
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Italian transport ministry officials were warned of weaknesses in Morandi bridge in Genoa, six months before the viaduct collapsed last week, killing 43 people.
Some of the stays supporting the bridge were estimated to have lost 20 per cent of their resistance capacity and needed repair, according to a study by Autostrade per l’Italia, the country’s biggest motorway toll company.
On Monday, the transport ministry, Autostrada and the architect tasked with investigating the collapse confirmed that the findings had been discussed by civil servants in February.
The revelation that the government knew of weaknesses in the bridge will undermine efforts by the populist coalition’s attempts to pin blame for the disaster squarely on Autostrade and its parent company Atlantia.
The government, which took power in May, told Autostrada that it intended to revoke its licence to operate about half of Italy’s toll motorways, and refused an initial offer by the company of €500m for repairs and compensation.
The objectivity of the official investigation by the transport ministry into the collapse has also been questioned after it emerged that the ministry appointed the same official who assessed the Autostrade proposals to head the ministry’s investigation into the accident. Roberto Ferrazza, a transport ministry architect in Genoa, was part of a provincial board overseeing public works. He said he assessed the project proposed by Autostrade to carry out maintenance and repair works on the bridge in February this year.
Last week he was appointed to lead the ministry’s investigation into the collapse. On Monday, Mr Ferrazza told the Financial Times that he would not step down as head of the investigation team. “I don’t see a conflict of interest,” he said. Whether he continued to head the investigation “is not my decision”, he added. “I was appointed.”
