the Bridge of Horns

Recently clued in to this interesting little project.

Quote:

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The Bridge of the Horns is a proposed construction project to build a bridge between the coasts of Djibouti and Yemen across the Bab-el-Mandeb, the strait between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. It will be constructed by Noor City Development Corporation, and the notice-to-proceed was issued by Middle East Development LLC, which is headed by Tarek bin Laden, a half brother of Osama bin Laden.

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Some pics here.

Would be interested to hear more about it.

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to my admittedly limited knowledge, all major bridge projects were preceded by a viable ferry service.

This bridge project is intended to stimulate a demand that does not yet exist.
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The project was announced back in the days (not so long ago) when companies out of Dubai were planning to build the biggest of everything. The project isn't only a bridge, two entire cities were going to be built, one at either end. How viable the project is in today's environment is, of course, anyone's guess; I haven't heard much about it lately... but with oil at $80 there is enough money to do it, and if they want to spend it there, why not? Lots of contracts, lots of jobs, wherever it all ends up.

I don't think the bin Laden connection means much; the family construction firm is both conservative and close to the Saudi royal family, and I doubt they've much to do with the prodigal one. UBL doesn't produce a whole lot of business for them.