Queues at the Gibraltar border crossing - archive image from Europa Press
The Interior Ministry has set aside four million euros to adapt the border crossing between Gibraltar and Spain for both pedestrians and vehicles to the new, post-Brexit regulations that will come into force on January 1st.
Five separate projects are under way as a matter of urgency, some of which are due to be completed this month.
The most expensive is a 2,250,000 euro infrastructure project to control the entry and exit of both people and vehicles, including new watchtowers at the border post in La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz).
Public moneyto the tune of 1,638,560 euros is also being spent on automatic border control equipment, TV monitors, and communication / telecommunication equipment.
The work has to be carried out to adapt the Gibraltar border crossing - considered the smallest frontier post in the world - to the change in circumstances once the extended Brexit period comes to an end and the UK finally leaves the European Union on January 1st 2021.
Despite its diminutive size, more than 15,000 people (10,000 of them Spaniards) use the crossing to get from Spain to the ‘Rock’ every day for work. Some 200 lorries, carrying supplies for the British colony, also make the crossing every day.
Many of the 32,000 inhabitants of Gibraltar make regular use of the border crossing to go shopping, to use the leisure facilities in the local towns or to visit friends and family.
