According to reports, the Moroccan and Spanish governments are discussing the creation of an undersea tunnel to link the two countries between Tangiers and southern Spain.

If the ambitious project gets the green light then the tunnel would carry passenger and freight trains and cars and provide serious competition for the present ferry services that link the two countries.
Talks on the project are said to be very serious with a possible 2008 start date for construction.
The man who has been asked to design the new tunnel is Swiss engineer Giovanni Lombardi who was also responsible for helping to design the Gotthard Pass tunnel in Switzerland and the Mont Blanc tunnel which links France and Italy.
However, he says there are several obstacles and challenges related to this project, including the fact that the sea is 1,000ft deep in the strait between the two countries which is the equivalent of five to six times deeper than the strait between England and France where the Channel Tunnel was built.
He says there is also a question of tectonic plate movements in the strait which would require a tunnel to effectively be able to move slightly with such conditions.
Engineers say they hope to finish their viability studies by the end of this year and the Moroccan and Spanish governments have both said that they are committed to exploring the project further, even though the estimated cost of such a construction feat is put at between $8bn to$13bn.