“As a citizen, I am impatiently and eagerly waiting for the details of the implementation of the East Salwa Island project,” wrote Saud Al-Qahtani on Twitter. “This great historic project will change the region’s geography.”

Al-Qahtani is an adviser of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. He has already talked about the project on Twitter over the past few months, but Friday’s tweet was the clearest indication so far of an initiative which opponents dismiss as a PR exercise intended to intimidate Qatar rather than being a serious plan.

Earlier media statements indicated that the canal project would be funded by the UAE and Saudi authorities, with Egyptian companies doing the work, having had similar experience from expanding the Suez Canal.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain all cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar in June last year, when air, land and sea traffic was all suspended. The small Persian Gulf State was accused by the group of supporting terrorism. Qatar continues to deny the allegation and said that the boycott was merely an attempt to infringe upon its sovereignty.