Egypt and Saudi Arabia will not be connected by a bridge over the Red Sea, reports Dina Ezzat Earlier this week President Hosni Mubarak put an end to increasing speculation over plans for Cairo and Riyadh to pursue a mega project, a two-way bridge connecting Egypt and Saudi Arabia in what would have constituted the first ever bridge to link the Asian and African sides of the Arab world -- currently tied only by the Egyptian Peninsula of Sinai. "There are no bridges to be built," Mubarak told the editor of the evening daily Al-Messa, Khaled Imam, on Sunday. According to the exclusive interview, the news, front-paged and featured for over 10 days, is simply not true. "It is just a rumour," Mubarak told Al-Messa which used his quote as a banner headline for its Sunday edition. "The idea is simply not acceptable... It would ruin the [life and tourism style of] Sharm El-Sheikh." Stories of the projected bridge ran in some Egyptian and Saudi dailies, including no less than Al-Ahram daily that front-paged the news with a dateline from its correspondent in Saudi Arabia and Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, a London-based Saudi daily with close ties to the ruling family in Riyadh, which announced plans by Saudi King Abdullah to lay down the bridge's foundation stone on Saturday. Commentators in the Egyptian and Saudi press praised the project as the culmination of an exceptionally close relationship between the two countries, with some calling it "the bridge of love". However, Saturday came and went with no news of the launching and 24 hours later Cairo fudged the story at the highest level. "Nobody even approached us on this matter. There was an idea [for a bridge to link Egypt and Saudi Arabia] proposed by the late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia but it was turned down by the Saudi side," Mubarak said in his press statements. He added that a couple of years ago the idea "floated again" after over 1,000 Egyptians, mostly low-paid labourers, drowned when the Al-Salam ferry sank while travelling from Saudi Arabia to Egypt across the Red Sea. However, according to the president, the matter was not discussed further. According to the stories in the Egyptian and Saudi press and to official sources in Cairo, the proposed bridge was supposed to link the northern Saudi city of Tabuk with the coastal Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. It was supposed to cost no less than $3 billion and would have required a full three years of construction before it could have been opened for the benefit of over two million Egyptians who work in Saudi Arabia, pilgrims and Saudi tourists who visit Egypt regularly. Given its unique land link it would have offered between Africa and Asia, the bridge could have, at least in theory, turned Sharm El-Sheikh and Tabuk into two main trading hubs. "Such a bridge would have damaged the peaceful and tranquil lifestyle of Sharm El-Sheikh and would have denied it the influx of tourism... I would never allow this," Mubarak said. The cold water poured over the news of the Asia-Africa connect project came against a backdrop of Israeli apprehension regarding the proposed bridge. At least one Israeli website with close association with the Israeli army suggested that through such a bridge Egypt could be in a position to fast- deploy military forces from Saudi Arabia in Sharm El-Sheikh south of the Israeli border. The peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel involves considerable restrictions on the deployment of Egyptian military forces in Sinai depending primarily on the proximity to Israeli borders. Official Egyptian sources categorically denied that Israel had approached Cairo to enquire or express concern over the proposed bridge. Speaking on background, they said the bridge was mainly a project proposed and promoted by an influential group of businessmen on both the Saudi and Egyptian sides but was not necessarily endorsed at the official level. "The stories printed in the press, Egyptian or Saudi, were all attributed to anonymous sources. If a project of this magnitude was in the pipeline much more attention would have been accorded the matter," commented one government source who asked for anonymity. He added that the project was not necessarily completely off the table but for now it is not on. He argued that considerable feasibility and environmental studies would need to be conducted if the go-ahead was to be given to building the bridge. Meanwhile, speculation was rife in several opposition and independent papers in Cairo. Some papers suggested that Egypt and Saudi Arabia got last minute cold feet due to security warnings that such a bridge would facilitate the movement of militant Islamist operatives between not just the two countries but between Asia and Africa in general. Others argued that Egypt had to suspend the plan to allow for time necessary to dispel Israeli concerns. According to government sources this is simply speculation based on a speculative story. They insisted that while plans for the bridge are there, there are no plans to initiate construction any time soon. Saudi sources in Cairo declined to comment on the issue.
