Nicaragua Approves Canal Project to Rival Panama Associated Press
go to original June 20, 2013

A Chinese company has been granted permission to build a multi-billion dollar canal across Nicaragua. Once completed, it will link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and compete with the Panama Canal for lucrative shipping fees. And as Adam Raney reports, it could be a windfall for the impoverished country. (AlJazeeraEnglish)

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — A multi-billion dollar proposal to plow a massive rival to the Panama Canal across the middle of Nicaragua was approved by the leftist-controlled National Assembly last week, capping a lightning-fast approval process that has provoked deep skepticism among shipping experts and concern among environmentalists.

The assembly dominated by President Daniel Ortega's Sandinista Front voted to grant a 50-year concession to plan and build the canal — with an option for another 50 — to a Hong Kong-based company whose only previous experience appears to be in telecommunications.

The legislation approved last week by a 61-28 vote contains no specific route for a canal and virtually no details of its financing or economic viability. It grants the Hong Kong company exclusive rights to plan and build the canal in exchange for Nicaragua receiving a minority share of any eventual profits.

Ortega's backers say the Chinese will transform one of the region's poorest countries by turning a centuries-old dream of a Nicaraguan trans-ocean canal into reality, bringing tens of thousands of jobs to the country and fueling an economic boom that would mimic the canal-driven prosperity of nearby Panama.

The currently estimated cost is $40 billion.

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