Qatar could become an island!

SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Arabia is planning to dig a canal that would turn its Gulf rival Qatar into an island. Tension between the two states has been brewing for the last year after the kingdom cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar and accused it of supporting terrorism.

Saud al-Qahtani, a senior adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed in Salman, confirmed the Salwa Island Project on Twitter. He said: “I am impatiently waiting for details on the implementation of the Salwa island project, a great historic project that will change the geography of the region.” The £580 million channel would be 60 miles long and 200 metres wide, stretching across the kingdom’s border with Qatar.

Part of the canal would be reserved for a planned nuclear waste facility.

Five unnamed

companies that specialise in digging canals had been invited to bid for the project and the winner will be announced in September, Makkah newspaper reported in June.

Saudi authorities did not respond to requests for comment and there was no immediate reaction on the plan from Qatar.

After the dispute erupted last year, Qatar found its only land border closed, its stateowned airline barred from using its neighbours’ airspace and Qatari residents expelled from the boycotting countries.

The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt all cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar following the fallout. Mediation efforts led by Kuwait and the US, which has its largest Middle East air base in Qatar, have so far failed to resolve the dispute. (Daily Mail)