Five international companies with expertise in digging canals are in the race for the 60-km-long Salwa canal project, that will turn Qatar into an island, erasing the land border between the two Gulf states, said a report.

Saudi Arabia’s deadline for accepting tenders for the proposed Salwa canal inside the territories of Saudi Arabia and alongside the Saudi-Qatari border has been set at June 25, reported the Gulf News.

The planned canal, expected to cost SR2.8 billion ($745 million), will stretch from Salwa to Khor Al Adeed, and will be 200 m wide and 15 to 20 m deep, allowing ships up to 295 m long and 33 m 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, said the report.

The name of the winner will be announced within 90 days and the company will have one year to complete the task, it added.