Huge new update on £7.4bn mega-tunnel linking Europe to Africa | World | News

A new study by the Spanish government has concluded that the construction of a massive tunnel connecting Morocco and Spain is technically possible. The ambitious project, which will connect the two continents under the Strait of Gibraltar, will take around a decade to complete and require investment of around €8.5bn (£7.4bn) for the Spanish part alone.

The work was carried out by the German company Herrenknecht, a world leader in tunneling machines, at the request of the Spanish government’s Company for Fixed Communications Surveys across the Strait of Gibraltar (SECEGSA). The report, prepared by the Spanish government since June, confirmed that despite the extreme complexity of the project, existing technology is capable of making it happen. The tunnel will connect Europe and Africa via a railway approximately 40 miles (65 km) long in total, with approximately 25 miles (40 km) within Spanish territory.

The Spanish terminal will be located near Vejer de la Frontera, with integration into the General Interest Railway Network (RFIG) through a new connection with the Cádiz-Sevilla line.

According to Spanish news source vozpopuliSince receiving the study, the government has begun to “download” it internally across different departments, with the aim of laying the foundations for a tender beyond the June 2026 deadline set to update the 2007 preliminary project.

According to consulted sources, the Spanish and Moroccan sides have reportedly committed to making the final decision on the first exploration tunnel tender in 2027.

The most challenging aspect of the project involves tunneling beneath the Camarinal Threshold, an area with extremely challenging geological conditions. But Herrenknecht’s assessment shows that these major logistical and economic challenges can still be overcome with existing engineering capabilities that have improved significantly since the turn of the century.

A delegation from SECEGSA and its Moroccan counterpart Société Nationale d’Études du Détroit (SNED) recently visited Norway to seek advice on a project of similar scale, Rogfast, the longest and deepest tunnel currently under construction in the world.

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Seismicity and seafloor studies are also carried out with the support of the United States Geological Survey.

Spanish authorities have already started to prepare a tentative timeline for the project. The first phase will involve building an exploration gallery or exploration tunnel, which will take six to nine years to complete. This initial tunnel will form the basis for the final design, which will follow the double tube approach. The most optimistic forecasts suggest that the first material breakthroughs will occur around 2030, coinciding with the World Cup to be co-hosted by Spain and Morocco.

However, sources close to the project cited by the Iberian media state that 2035 to 2040 would be a more realistic time frame for important milestones, considering the technical difficulties and the size of the investment required.

Although the first official agreement between Spain and Morocco was signed in 1979, the tunnel project has a long history, with origins dating back to the 19th century. Since then, approximately 50 joint committees have been organized between the two governments. Then, after the change of Pedro Sánchez’s position in Western Sahara in 2023, officials from both countries decided to accelerate the project at an unprecedented pace, according to SECEGSA officials.