The head of the Italian infrastructure giant under fire over the deadly bridge collapse in Genoa said Saturday that 500 million euros will be made available to help the city and to rebuild the viaduct. “Doing the sums we arrive quickly at half a billion euros… these are funds that will be available from Monday,” Autostrade per l’Italia chief executive Giovanni Castellucci said at a press conference. Castellucci said that Autostrade, which runs almost half of Italy’s motorway network, would be able to build a new steel bridge in “eight months”. Shares in Atlantia, Autostrade’s holding company, plummeted last week after the government said it would seek to revoke its lucrative motorway contracts. Castellucci also said that a fund worth “millions” would be given to Genoa city council for the families of the victims of the disaster, which has killed at least 40 people. Another fund worth “tens of millions” would be given to the city to help relocate the hundreds of people evacuated from their homes following the bridge’s collapse on Tuesday. Autostrade chairman Fabio Cerchiai said that if Autostrade were given the authorisation they would be ready to start building the new bridge “on Monday”. Published in Daily Times, August 20th 2018.