China to build world’s longest underwater tunnel

15 Feb qz.com

China is set to construct the world’s longest underwater tunnel, which will connect two of its northern port cities in an earthquake-prone region, an expert involved in the project says.Under the USD36 billion project, a 123-kilometre tunnel will be built as a shortcut between Dalian in Liaoning Province and Yantai in Shandong Province.

“The underwater tunnel is expected to be completed within the period of the 13th five-year plan (2016 to 2020),” Wang Mengshu, a tunnel and railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said on Friday.“The cost will be around 220 billion yuan and it will be the world’s longest underwater tunnel,” added Wang, who has worked on the plan since 2012.

According to a Friday report in the China Daily, a blueprint for the project is expected to be submitted to the State Council in April.Wang said that journey time between the two cities, which are currently separated by a 1,400-kilometer drive, would be reduced to 40 minutes after the tunnel is completed. The tunnel would exceed the combined length of the two longest tunnels in the world,.