Construction of a canal in Nicaragua begins
(baonghean) - On Monday, December 22, Nicaragua began construction of a canal across the country and almost parallel to the Panama Canal. This huge capital project is being built by a Chinese company and is currently causing a lot of controversy.
On Monday, the Nicaraguan government and the Chinese company HKND launched the project to build a canal across Nicaragua, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. If completed on schedule, by 2020, the canal will become a "heavyweight competitor" to the Panama Canal. However, the project is currently facing opposition from residents, environmentalists and many people doubt its viability.
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| Protests against the construction of a canal across Nicaragua on December 10. Photo: Reuters |
The project to start building a canal in Nicaragua was signed by President Daniel Ortega with Wang Jing, Chairman of HKND Company, who is known as the mysterious Chinese tycoon, at a ceremony in Managua. With this global project, President Ortega has the ambition to make Nicaragua the richest country in Central America. From the day of groundbreaking, HKND Company will have to start building and managing a 278 km long canal within 50 years, with an initial capital investment cost of up to 50 billion USD.
The project will initially start at the mouth of the Brito River, a river located on the southern Pacific coast. According to Bill Wild, the project's main Canadian consultant, between 300 and 50,000 workers will be mobilized to build the first roads leading to the canal within 5 years. Then, the canal will pass through Lake Cocibolca, which is considered to have the largest freshwater reserve in Central America, then continue through tropical forests and through at least 40 cities before ending at the mouth of the Punta Gorda River on the Caribbean side.
According to some sources, this project was an old dream "drawn" by the Spanish in the 16th century. While the Panama Canal can only receive ships with a capacity of 110,000 tons and is currently in a "saturated" state, if put into use, the canal across Nicaragua will be able to allow the passage of ships with a capacity of up to 250,000 tons with a length of 455m.
To complete this huge project, the Nicaraguan government must relocate more than 30,000 farmers as well as the indigenous Nahua Ramas who live along the main road through which the canal will pass. Since the past 3 months, tens of thousands of people as well as environmental activists have held many protests against the project. If the project goes ahead, thousands of people will have to leave their homes as well as the natural environment will be destroyed. Especially in the area of Lake Cocibolca (also known as Lake Nicaragua), people will have to dredge the lake bed and as a result, a series of wild creatures living around the lake will be killed.
Chu Thanh(According to Liberation December 22)
