Daniel Ortega News

China's Hong Kong Nicaragua Development (HKND) Co. said it is delaying the start of construction on a controversial $50 billion inter-ocean canal across Nicaragua until late 2016. HKND has obtained approval for environmental studies of the canal earlier this month. But on Wednesday, a company statement said that the construction will start toward the end of 2016. While the Hong Kong-based developer did not give a reason for the delay, it said in a statement that “the current design was being fine tuned,” and construction locks and excavations would start toward the end of 2016. The 172-mile canal project, dubbed the largest ever human engineering endeavor, was being funded by Wang Jing, the CEO of HKND Group.

The Nicaragua canal project, which is being built by Chinese billionaire Wang Jing and his Hong Kong-based Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co. (HKND Group), is not a threat to Panama, but a complement to the demand of world maritime trade, says the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega. One of the world’s largest engineering projects, the canal in Nicaragua is three times the size of world’s largest, the Panama Canal, and is estimated to cost at least $50 billion. Of the many Chinese infrastructure projects spanning the globe, the new canal seems to make the least commercial sense. Since the project was first announced, questions about Wang Jing’s political connections and the environmental and social impact of the construction have persisted.

In Nicaragua, a Chinese company is busy building what will become one of the world’s largest transoceanic canals. One of the largest engineering projects in history - They call it the Grand Inter-Oceanic Canal. Engineers say it will surpass the nearby Panama Canal in size and capacity. The canal would be three times as long as Panama’s and able to accommodate larger ships for the world’s cargo traffic. The new project is the largest in Latin America in 100 years. The $50 billion pharaonic project by a Chinese billionaire, Wang Jing, to cross Central America aims to unite the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by halving the Central American nation, has raised a firestorm of criticism even before it begins. And some in Nicaragua are gearing up for the fight of their lives to stop it.

When one of the poorest countries in the Americas and a little-known Chinese businessman said they planned to undertake one of the biggest engineering projects in history, few people took them seriously. A year and a half after the $50 billion project to build a canal across Nicaragua was launched by President Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla, the doubts have only grown. Work officially began this week. But reporters hoping to see any evidence of how it would be done in a fraction of the time it took to build the much-shorter Panama Canal, or discover who would pay for it, were left with more questions than answers. At events marking the start of what is meant to be a five- year job…

Nicaragua on Monday broke ground on its Chinese-led $50 billion shipping canal, a massive infrastructure project that aims to rival Panama's waterway and revitalize the economy of the second-poorest country in the Americas. Nicaragua's government says the proposed 172-mile (278-km) canal, due to be operational by around 2020, would raise annual growth to over 10 percent and help put an end to endemic poverty in the country of 6 million people. It could also give China a major foothold in Central America, a region that for years has been dominated by the United States, which completed the Panama Canal a century ago. Construction of the new waterway will be run by Hong Kong-based HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co Ltd (HKND Group)…

Wang Jing, the enigmatic businessman behind Nicaragua's $50 billion Interoceanic Grand Canal, shrugs off scepticism about how a little-known entrepreneur can be driving a huge transcontinental project, insisting he's not an agent of the Beijing government. "I know you don't believe me," said Wang, who reckons that he's forked-out about $100 million in canal preparation work, and is burning as much as $10 million a month on the project. Wang grabbed global headlines last June when he sealed a controversial no-bid 50-year renewable concession from Nicaragua's Sandinista government to develop the $50 billion canal to rival Panama's, and related facilities. Nicaragua preparation is on schedule, Wang said.

Wang Jing, the enigmatic businessman behind Nicaragua's $50 billion Interoceanic Grand Canal, shrugs off scepticism about how a little-known entrepreneur can be driving a huge transcontinental project, insisting he's not an agent of the Beijing government. "I know you don't believe me," said Wang, who reckons that he's forked-out about $100 million in canal preparation work, and is burning as much as $10 million a month on the project. "You believe there are people from the Chinese government in the background providing support. High-ranking Chinese officials including President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and former leaders Jiang Zemin and Wen Jiabao have all visited the state-connected wireless communication technologies company Wang took control of four years ago.

A concession to build a canal across Nicaragua linking the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea is to go to to a Chinese company. Citing Nicagaguan National Assembly legislative leader Rene Nunez, AP reports that the company will use funds from investors around the world to build the $40 billion project. He declined to name the Chinese company and did not give details of the concession. President Daniel Ortega stated recently that the canal would not go along the San Juan River as it had been planned, but would be built farther north, through the waters of Lake Nicaragua. He saw the project, when completed, as offering an alternative to the Panama Canal. Source: Associated Press