The Diftah-Shis Road and Tunnel project is a significant infrastructure development in the United Arab Emirates, specifically in Sharjah, aimed at connecting the port of Khor Fakkan on the east coast to Diftah in the central region. Below is a comprehensive overview based on available information:

Project Overview

• Purpose: The Diftah-Shis highway, including its tunnel component, was designed to create a strategic road link facilitating the distribution of goods from the port of Khor Fakkan throughout the UAE, bypassing the rocky Omani border and reducing travel time. The project enhances connectivity between Sharjah and Khor Fakkan, cutting travel time by approximately 30–45 minutes, which supports economic development by improving access to the port and avoiding the narrow Straits of Hormuz.
• Location: The road connects Diftah (in Fujairah) to Shis (or Shees) and extends to Khor Fakkan, passing through the Hajar Mountains. The route navigates complex geography, including an Omani exclave, which complicates direct road access.
• Length: The Diftah-Shis highway itself is approximately 11.5 km long, with the tunnel component consisting of twin bores, each around 1.25–1.3 km in length. The broader Sharjah-Khor Fakkan highway, which includes this segment, spans 89 km and features five tunnels, including the Al Sidra Tunnel, the longest covered mountain tunnel in the Middle East at 2.7 km.
• Cost: The tunnelling work for the Diftah-Shis segment was initially estimated at US$19 million but increased to US$27 million due to the addition of a second bore, cross passages, and rising material costs. The entire Sharjah-Khor Fakkan highway project was valued at AED 5.8 billion (approximately US$1.6 billion).
• Construction Period: The Diftah-Shis tunnel project ran from January 2006 to August 2010, with the broader Sharjah-Khor Fakkan highway completed and opened in 2019.

Contractor: General Mechanics Company; Project Consultant and Formwork Corroborative: Halcrow Company of England It was of a concrete placing efficiency of each part in every 24 hours for the average length of lining of each tunnel, at 1250 m (totaling 2500 m length), which was considered as an honor in exporting technical know-how and capability of construction of this industrial group to the other countries of the region. In order to execute and implement the LINING OPERATIONS of Diftah- Shis Road Tunnels (Sharjah- United Arab Emirates) For the first time, 2 Full- hydraulic Full Steel Formworks equipped with Tunnel Lining Formwork Self- propelled System were applied in United Arab Emirates, and, despite, presence of the European Competitors, such devices were entirely designed by B.F.S Industries Company, and were manufactured in Jebel Factory and were erected and commissioned at the place of the project. Such a formwork system (registered under No. 50171), with side hinged turnbuckle system, without any need for every-time open and close of the joint pins, and also without needing Anchor Bolts buried in kicker concrete for the section with the final Lining diameter of 12.4 m and the length of each part of concrete placing of 10.5 m was designed and constructed, and because of easy direction of the formwork and high speed of fixation of the same, in spite of compatibility of the design for the selfcompression concrete of the project.

Mr. Sheikh Soltan ibn Mohammad Ghasemi, Sharjah Governor, attended to inspect and examine the latest status of the physical progress of theproject at Diftah- Shis Tunnel Site on May 16, 2013, and during his 2- hour inspection from the site of the progresses conducted at the site, he expressed his full satisfaction, and showed appreciation for the technical and engineering knowhow applied in implementation and execution of one of the most important and difficult projects of United Arab Emirates.