Millions spent on tunnel project linking Morocco-Europe, construction yet to begin

Construction on the undersea Strait of Gibraltar bridge linking Europe and Africa has not yet begun.

43 years have passed, yet not a single stone has yet been laid on the link that will presumably connect Africa and Europe, according to Publico.

For 42 years, the publicly traded corporation Secegsa has been researching and evaluating the promised project.

During this period, Secegsa concentrated on researching the intricate physical environment of the Strait, technology advancements, trade flows, and the economic sustainability of the task.

The tunnel across the Strait of Gibraltar is “unparalleled on the planet” and a “high complexity” piece of work, according to the CEO of the company.

Four months ago,the Spanish and Moroccan governments made the decision to restart the project beset with technical and financial challenges during a meeting held in Rabat.

Although there were “doubts regarding the technical feasibility of the work”, the technological advancements made in the tunnel over the past ten years will create new prospects for the material execution of the project.

The dates for the beginning of the work and, much less, for its completion, have not yet been made public.

The undersea Strait link, which would eventually become one of the five transcontinental linkages in the globe, would have an “indisputable strategic value” for the area.

Alejandro Castillo, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Granada, asserted that the unification of the Strait was feasible.

“Work of this magnitude necessitates extrapolation to dimensions never previously seen. Spain has the technical ability to take on the task in cooperation with Morocco.” said Castillo.

The Threshold of the Camarinal, the shallowest passage in the Strait of Gibraltar with a maximum elevation of 300 meters below sea level, is the most likely location to build the tunnel.

The massive engineering undertaking has been ongoing for 154 years. The notion of constructing a reliable intercontinental link in the Strait of Gibraltar was inspired by the Suez Canal’s success.

The Moroccan Hispanic Mixed Committee decided to establish two public companies on October 24, 1980, with a share capital of 300,505 pesetas each. One was to be known as SNED in Morocco and the other as Secegsa in Spain.

The Court of Accounts’ audit report for the years 1997 to 2001 put operational expenses of the project at 167.5 million pesetas at the time.

Staff spending increased to 1,842 million pesetas out of a total State contribution of 5,810 million pesetas between 1981 and 2001.

The anticipated investment needed to build the undersea link is between 10,000 and 20,000 million euros, or between 2% and 5% of Spain’s GDP. Its completion is anticipated to take between 10 and 15 years.