Marine Link
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
SUBSCRIBE

Wang Jing News

27 Nov 2015

Controversial Nicaragua Canal Project Postponed

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.

30 Sep 2015

Nicaragua Canal Project Fraught with Risks

Nicaragua's planned $50 billion canal project is "fraught with risks and uncertainties," and could cause more harm than good unless the government and its Chinese builder fund a host of mitigation measures, an environmental consultancy said. The 172-mile (278 km), Chinese-backed project to rival the Panama Canal is one of the world's most ambitious infrastructure schemes, but it has been met with widespread incredulity, especially over its source of funding and planned 2020 completion deadline. The social and environmental impact study by the consultancy, Environmental Resources Management Ltd, echoed many of the same concerns. It urged Nicaragua's government to verify project builder and operator…

23 Jun 2015

Nicaragua Canal No Threat to Panama

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.

01 Jun 2015

Nicaragua Canal Project Study Delivered, Details Scarce

A long-awaited study on the impact of the proposed $50 billion Nicaraguan waterway by a British consultancy has been delivered, a canal official said on Monday, the first major milestone since a symbolic groundbreaking six months ago. The social and environmental impact study by the consultancy, Environmental Resources Management Ltd, will be discussed by an inter-institutional commission in June, before being voted on by the canal commission in July, Telemaco Talavera, spokesman of the government canal commission, said. The 172-mile (278 km), Chinese-backed project, which the Nicaraguan government says will be operational by 2020, is one of the world's most ambitious infrastructure schemes, but has been met with widespread incredulity.

19 Mar 2015

Nicaragua Canal: Connects Ocean, Disconnects People

The $50 billion Nicaragua Canal scheme promises to bring huge economic benefits to Central America's poorest country. But environmentalists and peasant farmers strongly oppose the project. And many are wary of the Chinese company that is to construct the canal. The massive canal will connect the Pacific and Caribbean and could reduce the cost of shipping commodities from Europe to Asia. The canal would be both longer and wider than the Panama Canal. Canal critics fear there will be confiscations of land, environmental mayhem and a job boom that will bypass the locals. In an interview with BBC today (March 19), Wang Jing, the Chinese billionaire who intends to build a shipping canal through Nicaragua connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific, has dismissed the project's critics.

05 Feb 2015

Nicaragua Atlantic-to-Pacific Canal: Big Chinese Money?

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.

26 Dec 2014

Doubts Linger Over Chinese-backed Nicaragua Canal

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…

24 Dec 2014

Nicaragua Canal Developer Plans IPO

The Hong Kong-based company with a concession to build a $50 billion shipping canal in Nicaragua said on Tuesday it is preparing to launch an initial public offering. Wang Jing, Chairman and Chief Executive of the HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co Ltd (HKND Group), told reporters in Managua that he hoped the listing would take place in the stock market that offered the best conditions. Wang Jing gave no details of how much HKND aimed to raise, nor when the offering might be. He said the company was preparing a prospectus which would reveal the investors behind the waterway that seeks to compete with the Panama Canal. More than a year since it was first announced…

23 Dec 2014

Nicaragua Canal Developer HKND plans IPO

The Hong Kong-based company with a concession to build a $50 billion shipping canal in Nicaragua said on Tuesday it is preparing to launch an initial public offering. Wang Jing, Chairman and Chief Executive of the HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co Ltd (HKND Group), told reporters in Managua that he hoped the listing would take place in the stock market that offered the best conditions. Wang Jing gave no details of how much HKND aimed to raise, nor when the offering might be. He said the company was preparing a prospectus which would reveal the investors behind the waterway that seeks to compete with the Panama Canal. More than a year since it was first announced…

22 Dec 2014

Nicaragua Building China-led Canal to Rival Panama

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)…

05 May 2014

Chinese Billionaire Backs Nicaragua Canal Plan

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.

04 May 2014

China's "Ordinary" Billionaire Behind Nicaragua Canal Plan

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.