Saudi Arabia to set up military base, nuclear waste burial site

Riyadh -- The Saudi part of Salwa island bordering Qatar will be converted into a military base and a nuclear waste burial site, Sabq online newspaper quoted informed sources as saying on Sunday.

According to the sources, the Saudi military base will be set up in the part separating the Qatari borders from the Salwa Marine Canal, an integrated project for excavating a marine canal along the borders with Qatar to be carried out with investments by a consortium of nine Saudi companies in this field.

The remaining part will be converted into a nuclear waste burial site for the Saudi nuclear reactor, the construction of which is being planned by Saudi Arabia.

Directives have also been issued to remove the Passports and Customs offices from the Salwa border crossing with Qatar. Instead the Saudi Border Guards will administer the area.

Experts told Sabq that the setting up of a Saudi military base between the Salwa Marine Canal Project and the Qatari borders will grant Saudi Arabia a strategic part of Salwa Island.

According to the experts, after this project Qatar will not be an independent island, the way Bahrain is, for example, as it will be part of Salwa Island where Saudi Arabia will share the island with it through its military base.

According to information received by Sabq, it has been decided that the marine canal project will be financed fully by the private sector and Saudi and UAE investment authorities. The area will be under full Saudi sovereignty.