Work on the groundbreaking French Seine-Nord Europe Canal (SNEC) is underway after two decades of political gridlock.

The first new French waterway built in over five decades is set to be game-changing for the European economy. The canal will cost a whopping €5.1bn (£4.3bn), with the French government, local authorities and the European Union footing the bill.

When it is complete, which is scheduled for 2030, the 107km (66-mile) route will join the Oise River to the Dunkirk-Escaut Canal.

SNEC aims to break up a European transport bottleneck and link up trade between three major European countries – France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

This will allow trade barges to avoid the bottleneck of the narrower Canal du Nord, making it quicker and easier to transport goods by water and cutting road traffic in France by a million heavy goods vehicles a year.

French officials have long sought to replace the Canal du Nord route for decades, which limits the size of vessels it can transport due to its narrow gauge and struggles to cope with modern transport demands.

The SNEC was first approved in 2003, but work only started last summer after disagreements over funding as well as issues with the route itself.

The new canal will run through several battlefields from World War 1, where the remains of around 100,000 soldiers are thought to remain undiscovered.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) hopes to use the construction opportunity to recover the bodies of the soldiers through a series of excavations.

The CWGC has ordered an extension to the Loos British Cemetery in Pas-de-Calais to provide space for up to 1,200 bodies, including those found during canal-related excavations.

Arcadis France operations director Philippe Bourdon said the complications were massive, explaining the sheer size of the canal involves “as many as 60 bridges, three canal bridges, seven locks, and 700 hectares of environmental plantation”.

Jérôme Dezobry, president of the executive board of the Société du Canal Seine-Nord Europe (SCSNE) said the new canal will be like a “move from small roads to a motorway”.

However, the game-changing canal is not without its critics. France’s own version of Extinction Rebellion has criticised the project, denouncing it as putting economic growth over “ecological purpose”. Climate activists have also cast doubt over whether the canal will significantly reduce CO2 emissions like the canal executives claim.