A senior Saudi official on Friday appeared to confirm local media reports that the kingdom is considering digging a canal to separate the Qatari peninsula from the mainland and turn it into an island, amid a year-long dispute between the neighbors, Reuters reported.

“As a citizen, I am impatiently waiting for the details of the implementation of the East Salwa island project, this great historic project that will change the region’s geography,” Saud al-Qahtani, a senior adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, wrote on Twitter.

Qatari authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Unnamed sources described Saudi plans to build a military base and a nuclear waste dump beside a 60 kilometer (37 mile) channel measuring 200 meters wide and 20 meters deep and stretching across the entire border with Qatar.

The cost was estimated at 2.8 billion riyals ($747 million).