Morocco and Spain Revive Plans for Underwater Tunnel Ahead of 2030 World Cup

The probability of realizing the Morocco-Spain transcontinental tunnel is 3 out of 5, estimates The Telegraph, before tracing the genesis of this old project. The idea of connecting Africa and Europe was born in the 1930s. "It has been nearly a hundred years since the idea of connecting Spain to Morocco by an underwater tunnel has crossed the minds of political leaders. As early as the 1920s, the pre-Francoist Spanish government was already talking about this connection between Europe and Africa. The project took a major turn in 1979, when the Kings of Spain and Morocco signed an agreement to begin feasibility studies, thus marking the beginning of concrete steps with the creation of a Spanish public body to initiate the project," recalls the British daily.

In 1980, two study companies were created: the Spanish Company for Studies on Fixed Communications across the Strait of Gibraltar (SECEGSA) in Spain and the National Company for Strait Studies (SNED) in Morocco. After that, the realization of the project came to a halt. Since October 2009, studies on this tunnel to connect Spain and Morocco, and by extension Europe and Africa, have been suspended. Hope was reborn last year. In February 2023, the project was reactivated during the High-Level Meeting held in Rabat. The two countries agreed in April 2023, during the meeting of the Spanish-Moroccan Committee, to establish a work plan for the next three years and to carry out feasibility studies for a dedicated tunnel for telecommunications.

Since then, the project is on track. The construction site must be delivered before the World Cup that Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal in 2030.

38.5 kilometers long, including 27.7 kilometers underwater, the tunnel under the strait should connect Punta Paloma, near Tarifa, to Tangier in Morocco. This route "will promote the development of transport networks between Spain and Morocco and create an unprecedented area of cooperation between the European Union and the Maghreb," assures the Spanish Company for Studies on Fixed Communications across the Strait of Gibraltar (SECEGSA). According to the Spanish authorities, the tunnel will allow to connect Madrid and Casablanca in five and a half hours, which is faster than the current 12-hour journey by car and ferry.