Venice Turns to Moses to Halt Floods

Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, gave his blessing yesterday to the construction of a multi-billion pound underwater project designed to hold back the sea and help to rescue Venice from sinking.

The "Moses" project will consist of hinged barriers erected on the seabed off the coast of Venice which will be raised to block incoming high tides.

At yesterday's inauguration ceremony, Mr Berlusconi attached a parchment to a symbolic "foundation stone" for the underwater system, to mark the start of the scheme.

"Venice is magnificent, the pride of all Italy," he said. "Today we are here for a historic day, to give a real start to the protection Venice has been awaiting for 37 years."

The project is one of two ambitious schemes which the prime minister has promised to kickstart since he was elected two years ago. The other - to build the largest suspension bridge in the world, joining Sicily and the Italian mainland - has yet to be launched.

Dozens of protesters in small boats followed the official party yesterday as it gathered for the ceremony at Venice's Morosini military college.

Environmentalists and leftwingers have criticised the project, arguing that it could create a closed circuit of stagnant water by stemming the flow of high tides into the Venice lagoon. Critics have also argued that the scheme may damage the surrounding environment.

The tidal barriers, which will cost €3.5bn (£2.49bn), will be made up of 79 steel sheets, 20 metres wide and weighing 300 tonnes. The project is due for completion by 2010.

The protesters argued yesterday that the project had been launched without a suit able study of the environmental impact. Speaking police held back protesters from the ceremony, Luana Zanella, a Green party member of parliament, said: "It's the usual show put on by the government. Clearly, the sensitive ears of our prime minister cannot tolerate the echo of dissent."

Venetians do not generally oppose the project, but insist that it will not be enough to save their city from disappearing.

Venice is not only at risk from high tides - the worst of which dumped sludge on art works and buildings in 1966 - but is also sinking through subsidence, at the same time as the Adriatic sea is rising.

The surrounding marshes which used to break the waves coming into the city have gradually disappeared, and heavy industry on the mainland has added to the increased subsidence and pollution.

Water levels have risen by 80cm since the 18th century when Canaletto painted the lagoon city. The city's tourist centre, St Mark's Square, floods more than 100 times a year. Less than a century ago, the city flooded 60 times in a decade.

Mr Berlusconi said yesterday: "We are totally aware that many more interventions will be needed for Venice."