The construction of a huge tunnel connecting Morocco and Spain is technically feasible, a new Spanish government study has concluded. The ambitious project, which would see the two continents connected under the Strait of Gibraltar, would take approximately a decade to complete and would require and investment of around €8.5billion (£7.4billion) for the Spanish portion alone.

The study was conducted by German company Herrenknecht – the world leader in tunnel boring machines – at the request of the Spanish government’s Spanish Company for Studies on Fixed Communication across the Gibraltar Strait (SECEGSA). The report, which the Spanish government has had since June, has confirmed that despite the project’s extreme complexity, current technology is capable of executing it. The tunnel would connect Europe and Africa via a railway spanning approximately 40 miles (65km) in total, with nearly 25 miles (40km) in Spanish territory.

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

According to Spanish news outlet Vozpópuli, since receiving the study, the government has begun to “land” it internally across different departments, with a view to establishing the foundations for a tender beyond June 2026 – the deadline set to update the 2007 preliminary project.

The Spanish and Moroccan sides have reportedly committed to making a final decision in 2027 regarding the tender for a first exploratory tunnel, according to the consulted sources.

The most challenging aspect of the project involves tunnelling beneath the Camarinal Threshold, an area with extremely difficult geological conditions. However, Herrenknecht’s assessment indicates that these huge logistical and economic challenges can nonetheless be overcome with existing engineering capabilities, which have improved significantly since the beginning 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 with a similar scale, the Rogfast, currently the longest and deepest tunnel under construction in the world.

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Seismicity and seabed studies are also being conducted with the assistance of the United States Geological Survey.

Spanish authorities have already begun mapping out a provisional timeline for the project. The first phase would involve building a reconnaissance gallery or exploratory tunnel, which would take between six and nine years to complete. This initial tunnel would establish the foundation for the final design, which would follow a twin-tube approach. The most optimistic projections place the first material advances around 2030, coinciding with the World Cup that Spain and Morocco will jointly host.

However, sources close to the project cited by Iberian media indicate that 2035 to 2040 would be a more realistic timeframe for significant milestones, given the technical difficulties and the magnitude of the investment required.

The tunnel project has a long history, with origins dating back to the 19th century, although the first official agreement between Spain and Morocco was signed in 1979. Since then, approximately 50 joint committees have been held between the two governments. Then, in 2023, following Pedro Sánchez’s change of position on Western Sahara, authorities from both nations committed to accelerating the project at an unprecedented pace, according to SECEGSA officials.