In the pipeline for several years, the tunnel project to connect Punta Paloma, in Spain, to Punta Malabata, in Morocco, will soon take shape. The project must be delivered before the World Cup that Morocco will co-organize alongside Spain and Portugal in 2030. {}
According to Spanish and British sources, the completion of the tunnel project to link Spain and Morocco is planned for 2030, reports Parliamentarian. 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 will create an unprecedented space for cooperation between the European Union and the Maghreb”, assures the Spanish Society for Studies on Fixed Communications across the Strait. of Gibraltar (SECEGSA).
To read: The tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar: a dream soon to come true?
This company signed on November 6 with the company TEKPAM Ingenieria based in Madrid, the rental contract with an option to purchase four seabed seismometers with a view to carrying out studies in the Strait of Gibraltar, as part of the project. The Spain-Morocco tunnel would be made up of three tubes: two intended for rail transport of passengers and goods, and a third dedicated to security and services. It could allow 12.8 million passengers to travel each year, specifies SECEGSA.
Read: Morocco – Spain: the underwater tunnel project accelerates
Following the meeting of a joint commission, the “Europe-Africa fixed link project across the Strait of Gibraltar” which had remained on the shelf since 2009 was relaunched in April 2024. The idea of connecting the two continents is born in the 1930s. It comes from Spain. At the time, engineers were tasked with studying the geology of the strait. But the project encountered a major obstacle: the rocks under the strait were extremely hard. Thus, a proposal for a prefabricated concrete tunnel, attached to the seabed by cables, emerged.
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