MILAN, May 14, 2020 – The creation of 1,500 direct and indirect jobs is the latest growth and employment opportunity in southern Italy with the start of work on the third mega lot of the Ionian Motorway, which will witness the laying of the first stone at a ceremony to be held on Tuesday, May 19 at Francavilla Marittima in the province of Cosenza. The lot, worth about €980 million and commissioned by the state road agency Azienda Nazionale Autonoma delle Strade (ANAS) as part of a total investment of €1.3 billion, is being done by Webuild Group, which is overseeing the consolidation of the country’s infrastructure sector in order to strengthen and relaunch it as part of Salini Impregilo’s Progetto Italia (Project Italy) plan.

The Mega Lot 3 of the Ionian Motorway consists of the construction of a new section of the SS-106 from SS-534 (km 365+150) in Sibari to Roseto Capo Spulico (km 400+000) in the region of Calabria. Work is expected to last seven years.

The section will be 38 kilometres long, running within one kilometre of the old route to help connect the Ionian coastlines in the regions of Calabria, Basilicata and Puglia. It will also connect the A3 motorway with Puglia. The project will improve the area with restoration work at the Archeological Park of Sybaris.

The Ionian Motorway will be part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), a European initiative to connect transport networks across the region. It will improve sustainable mobility within Italy and the rest of Europe.

With a record of 80,291 kilometres of roads and highways built across the globe, the Webuild Group is working on other TEN-T projects in southern Italy, such as the high-speed railway between Naples and Bari, namely the 18-kilometre Apice-Hirpinia section valued at €608.1 million, and the Naples-Cancello section, 15.9 kilometres long and valued at €397 million. In Sicily, the Group is expanding a 38-kilometre section of the Bicocca-Catenanuova railway for €186 million. The railway will facilitate travel between Palermo and Catania in less than two hours, benefitting local workers and travellers.