The Strait of Messina Bridge is a long-planned suspension bridge across the Strait of Messina, a narrow section of water between the eastern tip of Sicily and the southern tip of mainland Italy. In 2006, under Prime Minister Romano Prodi, the project was cancelled. However, on 6 March 2009, as part of a massive new public works programme, Silvio Berlusconi's government announced that construction of the Messina Bridge would indeed go ahead, pledging €1.3 billion as a contribution to the bridge's total cost, estimated at €6.1 billion. The bridge would have been the largest suspension bridge in the world, almost doubling the main span of the Akashi-Kaikyo in Japan. The bridge is part of the Line 1 of Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T).