Like every other great plan to link one continent with another, it has spent an age gathering dust. A bridge between Africa and Europe has been dreamt of since the Moorish conquest of southern Spain, but the political will and hard cash to build it have always been lacking.
| Plus the fear of fifty bagillion Africans flooding northward over the bridge. |
Now, in an effort to overcome that inertia, regional officials in southern Spain have turned to an eccentric American architect. Eugene Tsui, whose oddball designs have attracted controversy, has been commissioned by officials in Cadiz, who have grown impatient after almost 20 years of dithering by the Spanish and Moroccan governments.
The move has, however, horrified many in southern Spain - including British expatriates - who fear that a bridge would lead to fifty bagillion illegals a huge surge in illegal immigration from Africa. So far, however, they have been able to take comfort in the hope that Mr Tsui's project - like so many others - will get no further than the drawing board. For it is fair to say that, even compared with other international civil engineering projects, his brainchild is on the crazy ambitious side.
Dubbed the "Afro-tunnel", it envisages nine miles of bridges and tunnels, up to 24 lanes wide, connected to a floating island three miles across, with a vast windfarm, a shopping and leisure complex, waterfalls, artificial hills and a marina. There would be lanes for those who wish to walk, bicycle or "ride camels and horses".
| See the illustration. Twenty-four lanes and pedestrian walkways, no waiting for the fifty bagillion immigrants from Morocco. |
There is also the small question of the £5.4 billion price tag - which, so far, no one has offered to pay. The European Union, normally suckers for this sort of boondoggle a dependable bankroller of such schemes, already has a long-stalled Spanish-Moroccan application on its desk, for which it has refused to cough up.
"It is a lot more than just a bridge but a whole cultural scheme," said Mariano Alcalde, an engineer in Tarifa, the town at the Spanish end of the link. "The mayor has supported it the whole way and has already been speaking to both the Andalucian and Spanish authorities. Eugene is due back in July to try and take this on further."
| "The mayor will support anything that brings an EU subsidy to town." |
Leaving each coast on a floating bridge, traffic would descend into a tunnel suspended to a maximum depth of 650ft underwater, which would allow shipping through the strait, then rise to the central island. Electricity generated by the 150 windmills and 80 tidal turbines on the island would pay for the bridge many times over, Mr Tsui said. His design leaves currents undisturbed, minimising the impact on marine ecology. Even the scheme does not come to fruition, Cadiz officials say it shows a way around the environmental problems that have dogged previous designs.
There has not yet been any official comment from the Moroccan or Spanish governments on Mr Tsui's plan.
| "Please. Leave us alone. Go away." |
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