Europe and Africa Could Be Linked by Ambitious Underwater Tunnel
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Spain has begun investigating the possibility of connecting Europe to Africa via an underwater tunnel to Morocco.
On Saturday, the Spanish government allocated €1.6 million (roughly $1.7 million) to a new feasibility study for a tunnel from the Iberian Peninsula to Morocco, the closest crossing between the two continents.
The Context
The idea of a crossing between Spain and Morocco has existed for decades, as the two countries are the closest Europe and Africa come along the Mediterranean coastline. The underwater tunnel would run 27.7 kilometers (17.2 miles) beneath the Mediterranean Sea.
A render of an underwater tunnel, currently being explored to connect Spain to Morocco.
A render of an underwater tunnel, currently being explored to connect Spain to Morocco.
Morocco World News
What To Know
The proposed tunnel would span the Strait of Gibraltar, linking southern Spain to northern Morocco, with hopes of boosting the economic and infrastructural integration of both countries, which would then become gateways to new continents.
The tunnel, which is sometimes dubbed the Strait of Gibraltar crossing, is being championed by the Spanish Minister of Transport, Minister Óscar Puente, who is leading the initiative through the Spanish Company for Studies on Fixed Communication across the Gibraltar Strait (SECEGSA), the agency responsible for fixed communication studies across the Strait.
The feasibility work is being financed through the European Union's Next Generation funds. SECEGSA said that the investigation would determine "the feasibility of excavating the breaches by reviewing the considerations of the 2007 preliminary project regarding the construction method, as well as the flysch formations."
The project's costs have not yet been defined, but an estimate of €6 billion ($6.6 billion) to €15 billion (16.6 billion) is reported. For comparison, the Channel Tunnel linking France to the United Kingdom was built for £5 billion in 1994, roughly $15 billion after inflation.
The Channel Tunnel, which is 50 kilometers long, was built over a six-year period. The Strait of Gibraltar crossing would be around half the length, though the floor of the Mediterranean may present more building hazards than that of the Channel.
In November last year, the Spanish government rented four seismometers for more than €480,000 (about $533,000) so that the Strait of Gibraltar seabed could be accurately mapped for planning processes.
The Strait of Gibraltar, as seen from space.
The Strait of Gibraltar, as seen from space.
Getty Images
What People Are Saying
The Spanish Ministry of Transport said in a statement: "This permanent link infrastructure across the Strait would constitute an essential link in the Euro-Mediterranean transport network.
"The facilitation of passenger, goods and services flows will produce a quantitative and qualitative acceleration of the economy."
What Happens Next
SECEGSA hopes that the study into the tunnel's feasibility will be completed by June this year, though construction will take much longer to plan and complete. Previous suggestions of completion by 2030 have been rejected.
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