Undersea Tunnel from Iberian Peninsula to Africa

Cheeky-Monkey · 6 November 2022 16:15

Plans for this tunnel making the news again.

Morocco announced on Friday, November 4, that it had appointed a new person to oversee the public company that is in charge of the project to construct a 40km tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar to link the north African county to Spain.

During the Moroccan government council meeting held on Thursday 3, it was decided to appoint AbdelKabir Zahoud. According to the Moroccan digital media outlet Marruecom, Zahoud is the general director of the National Company for the Study of the Strait of Gibraltar, attached to the Ministry of Equipment and Water.

This appointment confirms the interest of the neighbouring country in resuming the creation of the tunnel that will link Spain with Morocco.

On the Spanish side, the Spanish Company for Studies of Fixed Communications through the Strait of Gibraltar (Segecsa), is in charge of carrying out the feasibility studies.

Spain's Plans for a Tunnel to Africa

Spain and Morocco are considering building a 9.8 billion dollar tunnel across the Strait of Gibraltar, providing the first physical link between Europe and Africa. Due to the strait of Gibraltar’s geography, proposals for both bridges and tunnels across it have been seriously considered. However, nowadays, a tunnel is being focused on. If constructed, a tunnel would transform the local economies and boost intercontinental trade. However, it would also come with several issues. Despite this, the concept is being seriously pursued today and could soon be constructed.

From September - Seems like it has also been explored by the UK and Morocco

UK Morocco's New Mega Undersea Tunnel To Connect Europe SHOCKED American...

The British and Moroccan governments have been negotiating the details of an undersea tunnel connecting Morocco and the British territory of Gibraltar.

This would most typically involve the construction of a 30 km long tunnel across the Strait of Gibraltar similar to the tunnel across the English Channel that connects France and UK. It was initially meant to replace previous plans for a similar tunnel connecting Morocco and Spain over the same geographic area but now it seems these two projects are coexisting.

Cloudcity · 10 April 2023 20:26

The governments of Spain and Morocco have resumed negotiations on Monday for the study of the so-called Fixed Link of the Strait of Gibraltar, which proposes a tunnel connecting both countries under the sea along the 14 kilometers that separate them.

The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda has stated that the reactivation of the negotiations only includes the study, emphasizing that any future construction will require the signing of new bilateral agreements.

On Monday, the Joint Spanish-Moroccan Committee held a new telematic meeting of the Fixed Link Project of the Strait of Gibraltar, convened following the meeting held in Rabat between both countries in February, in which they reaffirmed their agreement to promote the studies.

The meeting has validated the joint actions carried out by the Spanish company responsible for the studies, Secegsa, and its Moroccan counterpart, SNED, since 2009.

"We begin a new stage of relaunching the Fixed Link Project through the Strait of Gibraltar, whose journey we started hand in hand with our two companies, Secegsa and SNED," said Minister Raquel Sánchez.

The meeting coincides with the reactivation of Secegsa, after several years without significant budget allocation and commission to carry out the necessary studies to analyze the feasibility of the intercontinental fixed link, in this case for telecommunications and energy transport. The Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) includes 2.3 million euros from European funds to update the studies related to the project.

As conclusions of the Joint Committee, both parties have encouraged the visibility of the project and agreed to address the development of a general strategy and a work plan for the next three years, which may include, among other things, analyzing the feasibility of building a recognition gallery that allows identifying geomechanical characteristics. If built, it would be possible to use it initially for telecommunications.

The social purpose of Secegsa is limited to the realization of studies, never works, which are normally carried out jointly with the Moroccan counterpart company, SNED, both created in 1981. Any construction that is carried out in the future would imply a new bilateral agreement with Morocco, as provided for in the current international agreements on this issue.

"It has an important political significance that, after fourteen years, since Tangier in October 2009, we give a boost to the studies of a project of maximum geostrategic relevance for our countries and for the relations between Europe and Africa," the minister said at the beginning of the Joint Committee.