Plans for a fixed link between Morocco and Spain beneath the Strait of Gibraltar have returned to the spotlight after Spanish media reported that Madrid had approved fresh funding to continue technical studies for the long delayed rail tunnel project, one of the most ambitious cross continental infrastructure schemes under discussion.
According to the reports, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government approved a new 1.73 million euro transfer for Secegsa, the state company overseeing studies for the project.
That would bring total support allocated to the company since 2022 to about 9.61 million euros, marking a sharp increase from the roughly 50,000 euros a year previously devoted to the studies.
The renewed funding is aimed at updating decades old technical work and reassessing the project’s economic and environmental viability in light of current engineering capabilities, while deepening coordination with Morocco’s counterpart company, SNED. Secegsa says the project is being pursued jointly with the Moroccan side as part of a broader effort to create a permanent transport link between Europe and Africa.
On its website, Secegsa says the tunnel option under study would involve about 38.5 km of tunnel within a 42 km terminal to terminal connection, including roughly 28 km beneath the seabed.
Spanish reporting has said the route could reach depths of about 475 metres, underlining the engineering complexity and the prospect of costs running into many billions of euros.
The project has gained renewed attention as ties between Rabat and Madrid have improved in recent years, reviving discussion of shared strategic investments. Secegsa describes the tunnel as a potentially essential link in the Euro Mediterranean transport network, with broader significance for trade, logistics and mobility between the two continents.
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