The German company Herrenknecht was chosen by the Spanish government to carry out a feasibility study on the mega-project of an underwater tunnel which should connect Morocco to Spain.
With our correspondent in Casablanca, François Hume-Ferkatadji
It has been a sea serpent for decades. One of the most ambitious projects in the world seems to be well and truly relaunched this time. The Spanish subsidiary of the German company Herrenknecht was mandated to determine the solutions to adopt to the technological challenges of this project. At the beginning of December, the Spanish government had already signed a rental contract for four seismometers with the aim of studying the seabed of the Strait of Gibraltar.
Shorter, but deeper than the Channel Tunnel
While the Channel Tunnel recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, the Mediterranean tunnel project has had a more turbulent history. If the first known project, that of a French engineer, dates back to the mid-19th century, it was in 1979 that the King of Morocco Hassan II and his Spanish counterpart Juan Carlos I seriously considered linking Africa and Europe by the train.
-In 1981, Secegsa, a Spanish public company, was created to promote the tunnel. An organization still in existence today, with its Moroccan twin, Sned. The mega-project would strengthen economic ties between Morocco and the European Union, and facilitate transport, while the Strait of Gibraltar, where 100,000 ships pass per year, is already clogged.
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