Saudi Arabia moves ahead with Salwa canal plan
This canal will turn Qatar into an island
Manama: Saudi Arabia’s deadline for accepting tenders to dig a 60-kilometre canal that will turn Qatar into an island will be June 25. Five international companies with expertise in digging canals have so far submitted their tenders for the Salwa canal inside the territories of Saudi Arabia and alongside the Saudi-Qatari borders. The name of the winner will be announced within 90 days and the company will have one year to complete the task, Saudi daily Makkah has reported.
The planned canal, expected to cost SR2.8 billion (Dh2.74 billion), will stretch from Salwa to Khor Al Adeed, and will be 200 metres wide and 15 to 20 metres deep, allowing ships up to 295 metres long and 33 metres wide to navigate it.
Several resorts with private beaches in Salwa, Sakak, Khor Al Adeed and two in Ras Abu Qamees are also being planned. Seaports will be built in Salwa and in Aqlat Al Zawayed and will complement the one in Ras Abu Qamees.
Marinas for yachts and water sports will be built on the two banks of the canal, making it one of the most attractive in the Gulf region.
The canal will be inside Saudi territory, making it fully Saudi, and will be about one kilometre from the official border with Qatar. The plan will be presented to relevant entities, including the Ministry of Defence and the Border Police.
The project will be reportedly funded fully by Saudi and UAE private investors and that Egyptian companies with expertise in digging would help with the construction of the canal.
A Saudi military base will be established in the one kilometre separating the Salwa waterway from Qatar, while the remainder will be converted into a waste dump for the Saudi nuclear reactor, which Riyadh plans to build according to best practices and global environmental requirements.
In April, Saudi border guards took control of the Salwa crossing, effectively cutting off Qatar’s only terrestrial link with the outside world.
The customs and passports departments evacuated the crossing and handed over its control to the Border Guards, shortly after orders had been given to station them along the borders.
The move was understood to signify that work on the ambitious project to dig the waterway would start earlier than predicted.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt on June 5 last year severed their diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting extremists and funding terrorism.
The Quartet issued a list of 13 demands and asked Qatar to comply with them in order to restore ties.
However, Doha rejected the points. Mediation efforts led by fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member Kuwait have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough or any incremental progress.
The GCC, set up in Abu Dhabi in 1981, comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
courtesy : gulfnews.com
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Cong cites Kangana's purported remarks to accuse BJP of wanting to bring back repealed farm laws
New Delhi, Sep 24: The Congress on Tuesday cited BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's purported remarks on farm laws to allege that the ruling party was making efforts to bring back the three laws that were repealed in 2021, and asserted that Haryana will give a befitting reply to it.
The Congress shared on X an undated video of Ranaut in which she is purportedly saying in Hindi, "Farm laws that have been repealed should be brought back. I think this may get controversial. The laws in farmers' interest be brought back. Farmers should themselves demand this (to bring farm laws back) so that there is no hindrance to their prosperity.
"Farmers are a pillar of strength in India's progress. Only in some states, they had objected to farm laws. I appeal with folded hands that farm laws should be brought back in the interest of farmers."
In a post in Hindi along with the video, the Congress said, "The three black laws imposed on farmers should be brought back: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has said this. More than 750 farmers of the country were martyred, only then did the Modi government wake up and these black laws were withdrawn."
Now BJP MPs are planning to bring back these laws, the Congress alleged.
"The Congress is with the farmers. These black laws will never return, no matter how hard Narendra Modi and his MPs try," the opposition party said on X.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also shared the video of Ranaut on X and said, "'All three farm laws should be brought back': BJP MP Kangana Ranaut. More than 750 farmers were martyred while protesting against the three black farmer laws. Efforts are being made to bring them back."
"We will never let that happen. Haryana will answer first," she said in an apparent reference to the assembly polls in Haryana.
Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also shared the video on X and said it was the BJP's "real thinking".
"How many times will you deceive the farmers, you two-faced people?" Khera said in a post in Hindi.
The three laws -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act -- were repealed in November 2021.
The farmers' protest started at the fag-end of November 2020 and ended after Parliament repealed the three laws. The legislations came into force in June 2020 and were repealed in November 2021.
“तीनों किसान क़ानून वापस लाये जाने चाहिए” : BJP MP कंगना रनौत
— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) September 24, 2024
जिन तीन काले किसान विरोधी क़ानूनों की मुख़ालिफ़त करते 750 से ज़्यादा किसान शहीद हो गए
उनको दोबारा से लाने की कोशिश की जा रही है. हम ऐसा कभी नहीं होने देंगे
सबसे पहला जवाब हरियाणा देगा pic.twitter.com/kRAkRuE2cc
