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.
A statement from the president said: “We have told the president of Panama that Nicaragua’s channel does not threaten Panama that they are complementary efforts, other routes that demanded by the development of world trade.”
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. Shipping forecasters don't anticipate a need for such a route in terms of trading.
Speed and secrecy have become hallmarks of project that would rival Panama Canal; Wang has pledged to finish the canal by 2020.
The Daily Mail of UK says that the Canal in Nicaragua could allow Chinese submarines to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific undetected.
Many believe that Wang, who has not disclosed who his investors are, may be backed by the Chinese Government who hopes to get a foothold in the continent where business has traditionally been dominated by the US.
And there are concerns that the canal, which would be 26metres deep, would be large enough for Chinese submarines to pass from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean undetected, reports Quartz.
Already, preliminary work has begun, at a cost to date of hundreds of millions of dollars. Land has been surveyed, routes identified, negotiations begun with landholders. Yet secrecy still cloaks the project, whose ramifications are vast. Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans would be displaced and hundreds of square miles of land would be given over to the Chinese company that holds the concession to build the canal.
