Spain-Morocco Undersea Tunnel Set for Completion by 2030 World Cup

According to Spanish and British sources, the completion of the project to build a tunnel connecting Spain to Morocco is scheduled for 2030, reports Barlamane. 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 space of cooperation between the European Union and the Maghreb," assures the Spanish Society for Fixed Communications Studies across the Strait of Gibraltar (SECEGSA).

This company signed on November 6 with the Madrid-based company TEKPAM Ingenieria the lease contract with an option to purchase four seismometers from the seabed in order to carry out studies in the Strait of Gibraltar, as part of the project. The Spain-Morocco tunnel would consist of three tubes: two for the rail transport of passengers and goods, and a third dedicated to safety and services. It could allow 12.8 million passengers to travel each year, the SECEGSA specifies.

Following the meeting of a joint commission, the project of the "fixed link Europe-Africa through the Strait of Gibraltar" which had remained in the drawers since 2009 was relaunched in April 2024. The idea of connecting the two continents was born in the 1930s. It comes from Spain. At the time, engineers were tasked with studying the geology of the strait. But the project had run into a major obstacle: the rocks under the strait were extremely hard. Thus, a proposal for a prefabricated concrete tunnel, fixed to the seabed by cables, emerged.