The port would be located at Britto, in the Rivas department on the Pacific coast and “would create all the necessary work to move forward," he said,In June of last year, a parliament controlled by President Daniel Ortega and his Sandinista National Liberation Front approved the project with scarcely a debate.
They handed a 100-year concession controlling a vast area of Nicaragua to Chinese magnate Wang Jing, giving him broad powers as he and his newly formed Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co. (HKND) build and manage the 286km-waterway.
The Canal would be three times the length of the Panama Canal with a channel draught of 22m, the locks having 466 m length, being 64 m in width and its cost is estimated at $40B\bn although most experts consider the cost largely under estimated.The project would include two ports, an airport, an artificial lake, two locks, a resort, an area of free trade, roads and cement and steel, according to the Chinese firm HKND Group, concessionaire of the project.
Three months away from the planned start date of construction, there are still no international tenders called neither for the port nor for any infrastructure works or information released about land expropriations required along the canal.
Panama President Juan Carlos Varela during an official visit to Spain said that he did not see the “economic viability” of the project. Panama Canal expansion is well advanced and should begin operations in 2016.
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