Spanish-Moroccan relations hit a low in July last
year |
Spain and
Morocco say they have agreed to build a 39-kilometre rail tunnel beneath
the Mediterranean Sea, to link Europe and Africa.
The Spanish Development Ministry said two adjacent tunnels will run
beneath the Straits of Gibraltar to Morocco.
They are planned to run between Punta Palomas, 40 km west of Gibraltar
and Punta Malabata near Tangiers.
The ministry said the route had been chosen because the Mediterranean
at that point is just 300 metres deep.
The ministry said that a joint Spanish and Moroccan committee of
officials had already agreed a preliminary three-year plan of works to
start as early as next year, with an estimated initial cost of $30m.
Differences
The vision of a fixed link between Spain and Morocco has been alive for
more than 20 years, and was revived at a summit in Morocco earlier this
month.
It comes a year and a half after a crisis between the two countries
over the tiny island of Perejil.
Spanish marines forcibly evicted some Moroccan soldiers from the
island, which both countries claim.
The two countries are also at odds over Western Sahara, where Morocco
suspects Spain of favouring the Polisario Front independence movement, and
the Spanish North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, which Rabat says
are occupied territory.
This plan could be put into action as early as next year but the
eventual total cost of the project is likely to be much more.
The proposal has drawn comparisons with the Channel Tunnel, that links
England and France, and raises the prospect of a continuous rail link
between the north of Scotland and Africa.
