With the first-of-its-kind underwater tunnel linking Morocco and Spain hoped to be ready for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, the Spanish government recently allocated over $1.6 million for research related to the project, American newspaper Newsweek reported.
At an estimated cost of $6 billion, the tunnel will be the first to connect the continents of Europe and Africa.
The project is expected to involve the construction of two single-track, 17-mile-long, underwater tunnels that will descend as deep as 1,550 feet below sea level, underneath the Strait of Gibraltar, connecting the cities of Punta Paloma, Spain and Malabata, Morocco.
The tunnels will facilitate the movement of up to 12.8 million passengers and another 13 million tons of cargo annually, according to projections from the Spanish Society for Fixed Communication Studies across the Strait of Gibraltar.
The tunnel proposal is gaining momentum. Moroccan authorities said earlier this month they will “launch official studies into the feasibility of the project,” Newsweek reported.
“We are pushing forward with studies on this important project for our countries and for Europe-Africa relations,” Spain’s Minister for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda said Raquel Sánchez during a press conference with her Moroccan counterpart a year ago.
Spain and Morocco “have engaged in high-level talks about reviving the project, with government officials holding multiple meetings and Spain already having allocated funds to study the logistics from its end.”
The project is considered the most significant investment in Spain’s development since 1981.
Morocco previously opened a 200-mile-per-hour high-speed rail network in 2018 which is the first of its kind in Africa.