ROME - Finger-pointing has heated up as political leaders pin responsibility to private road companies, as the death toll rises to 39, report government officials. 

 Motorways for Italy is the private company which is being held responsible for the poor maintenance of the Morandi bridge, as well as many others which they manage across Italy. Many stretches of Italian highways and infrastructure were sold off by the 2015 Renzi government in an attempt to reduce public debt.  

 Marco Rizzo, the general secretary of the Communist Party, spoke out on Tuesday to pin the blame to the government's decision to hand over public infrastructure to the private sector: "For the individuals who manage the motorways - 'those who are responsible for high-level maintenance and replacements’ - profit rather than safety is the priority. Now, apart from criminal responsibility, the government should ask the damages from ‘their lords’ and rescind the privatization contract to restore the infrastructure to public management.”

 On Wednesday morning, the Transport and Infrastructure minister, Danilo Toninelli, posted on his Facebook: “Those who are to blame for this unjustifiable tragedy must be punished. The companies that manage our motorways charge the most expensive tolls in Europe, while they pay embarrassingly low concession. They collect billions, pay a few million in taxes and do not even make the necessary maintenance for bridges and roads.”

 “The leaders of Motorways for Italy must resign first of all. We are imposing fines of up to 150 million euros for those responsible. If they cannot manage our motorways, the state will do it."

 The Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, has also called for the resignation of the top management of the company: "It is the minimum that can be expected." 

 The company under attack, Motorways for Italy, continues to defend its good management: "The viaduct was monitored by the technical structures of the Tronco Management of Genoa on a quarterly basis in accordance with the legal requirements and with additional verifications carried out using highly specialized equipment."

 "We employ world leaders in road inspection and testing companies. Their results have always been accurate and adequate."

 Genoa's Public Prosecutor's Office has opened a file for 'multiple homicide' on the case, and has launched an investigation. "It was not an accident, but human error which caused this," was the satement of the Genoa head prosecutor, Francesco Cozzi. 

 Meanwhile, the government will hold a national mourning for the disaster and Liguria has requested the for the official status of national emergency.

 The next move is to turn to other bridges at risk across Italy. There are thousands of bridges and viaducts across Italy which were built like the Morandi bridge; giant reinforced conrete bridges which were built in the 1960s. Toninelli has promised a budget increase in order to "urgently test viaducts and bridges across Italy using state of the art sensors, so that we can prevent another tragedy."  

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