"The last doubts have vanished. The Mose will be made," Berlusconi told reporters following a meeting on the project after Venice's mayor asked for it to be stopped altogether.

The project envisages the construction of 78 flood barriers, 20 metres (65 feet) wide and up to 28 metres (92 feet) high, that will be fixed to the bed of the sea at points where Venice's lagoon meets the Adriatic. Recalling the biblical Moses, whom God helped to part the Red Sea, Mose is expected to be able to hold back the Adriatic's flood waters by 2011 and banish the possibility of Venice sinking beneath the waves of the lagoon.

But Venice's mayor Massimo Cacciari, supported by environmentalists and Venetian elders, had asked Berlusconi to consider other measures, arguing the barriers would cause as much damage to Venice as they prevent.

Shutting Venice's cargo port and barring cruise liners from entering the lagoon would be more effective in controlling the waters, the World Wildlife Fund Italy said on Wednesday.

Critics have also condemned Mose's rising cost.

When building started in May 2004, officials said it would cost 2.3 billion euros ($2.8 billion). Berlusconi on Wednesday nearly doubled that to 4.3 billion euros.

Venetians have endured tides and flooding since the city was founded on a collection of marshy islands in the 15th century.

But it wasn't until 1966, when a super high-tide swamped the city, destroying the homes of some 5,000 people, that Venice's elders decided to take action.