ACROSS BELGIUM

Evening Star, Issue 21966, 28 February 1935, Page 13

ACROSS BELGIUM

GREAT ALBERT CARAL ENGINEERING FEAT. Belgium’s .greatest' engineering feat, the. construction, of the 100-mile-long Albert Canal which is being driven right across northern Belgium to connect Antwerp and Liege with a magnificent modern waterway, is proceeding apace, according to a special message from Brussels to the ‘ Christian Science Monitor.* Young King Leopold 111. and Queen Astrid recently inaugurated the second section of this gigantic undertaking,, the total . cost of which is estimated at 1.500.000. Belgian francs (about 385.000. . Work on the canal began in 1930, just 100 years after Belgium’s declaration of independence, and will, it is hoped,. be complete in 1937. Between 1,200 and 1,500 workmen are regularly engaged in the excavation work, assisted by twelve electric scoops. each costing 2,000,000 Belgian francs and capable of removing 700 to 800 cubic meters of earth a day. For many years lack of direct connections between. the Meuse and the Scheldt, between the waterways of the east and those of the west which lead to the. North Sea, have hampered Belgian industries. Thus Liege coal going by water to the seaport of Antwerp, on the river Scheldt, has to cross Dutch territory on its present itinerary, and is forced to make a large detour as well along the northern frontier. From Liege the coal-laden ships follow the canalised Meuse down to the Netherlands frontier, into Holland as far as Maastricht, back into Belgium along the Zuid-Willems-Vaart Canal to Bocholt, and thence to Antwerp and the sea via the Campine Canal. This multiplicity of canals capable of carrying only relatively small ships has acted as a drag on the entire Belgian industry, particularly the Campine coalfields, which could be greatly expanded. The Albert Canal is expected to change all thisf By directly connecting Liege and Antwerp it will provide Belgium with a modern all-Belgian waterway capable of carrying 1,500 to 2,000ton boats, instead of the present maximum of 600 tons. The new route will only be -122 kilometres long, instead of 153 kilometres, and the number of loch* will be reduced from twenty-four to seven. The new canal will also provide » more profitable outlet for all the Campine and Liege coal, as well as any traffic from the Netherlands enclave which may prefer the more direct route to the sea via Antwerp instead of the longer Rotterdam route down the Holland Meuse. And by keeping to Belgian territory the Albert Canal avoids entering the Netherlands enclave at Maastricht, with its many locks and Customs dues. That this great engineering _ project has the sympathy of Hollanders is shown by the fact that the Queen of Holland invariably sends a special representative to take part in all the official ceremonies connected with the canal which are undertaken by the Belgian sovereigns. In this connection the Belgian engineers are taking great care not to drain the Meuse and thereby hinder Dutch canal navigation. Ultimately the required water for the Albert Canal will be obtained not from the Meuse, as at present, but from an immense reservoir south of Liege to be filled by damming the Ourthe and the Ambleve, two tributaries of the Meuse. This procedure is not expected appreciably to dominish the supply of water available for the Meuse and the Dutch canals. The new canal looks like a gigantic cutting. The two completed sections have a depth of water of 60 metres and a maximum width of 175 metres. Although built entirely for economic reasons, the canal is also believed to have a considerable strategic importance*