Nicaragua’s plan for canal advances amid questions

Nicaragua moved one step closer to fulfilling a two-centuries-old ambition when its National Assembly this month approved legislation granting a 50-year concession to a Hong Kong-based company to build a cross-country shipping canal from the Caribbean to the Pacific. The Nicaraguan government claims the US$40 billion project, intended to compete with the Panama Canal, will capture 4.5% of global maritime freight traffic, double the per-capita gross domestic product of the country and help pull Nicaragua out of poverty. But critics say too little is known about the sources of financing, the route, the economic viability of the project and HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company (HKDN), which was granted the 50-year concession. With no environmental-impact study... [Log in to read more]

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