A Chinese Man, a $50 Billion Plan and a Canal to Reshape Nicaragua

I&#x27;m from Nicaragua. This project is managed as a private business. No one knows nothing except for the president and his family. What the article says are some of thousands speculations. Telemaco and his kinds only repeat what they are instructed to say. Pure bullshit that only dump people believe. Here, most people believe that with this project Nicaragua will become a first world country. But also, here most people are not that bright.<p>I think that this project is not really about a canal. That&#x27;s a mouse trap. It&#x27;s about a possible oil in the atlantic coast what Ortega and Co. are seeking. The treaty that was signed between HKND and Nicaragua gives the right to HKND to appropriate &quot;any land&quot; it may require for the project. Few days later of the singing, a British oil explorer announced a &quot;very possible&quot; presence of oil in the atlantic coast of Nicaragua.

I am a bit confused by the article - because this is not mentioned at all - I am no history buff so happy to be corrected here:<p>But haven&#x27;t there been wars to avoid that Nicaragua gets an own canal (afair even supported by the USA and later by the CIA. Eg their Civil War or before that the US occupation [1])<p>Back then mainly to avoid having such important routes in the hands of pro-communist states, later to keep their financial interest in Panama in check.<p>Wasn&#x27;t the last state the the USA got the exclusive right to build such canal - basically just to allow nobody to do it.<p>How come that this isn&#x27;t mentioned at all in the article?<p>(As said before all cited from vague history memory. Happy to get a correction&#x2F;update on that.)<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_Nicaragua" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;United_States_occupation_of_Ni...</a>

Dunno. That&#x27;s an awfully high capital cost to compete with the Panama Canal--which will have a lot lower cost to expand its capacity to match a competitor&#x27;s features (mostly extra size) if they turn out to be in high demand. The current Panama Canal expansion project is a $5B operation. No doubt another expansion (the &quot;gargantuan locks project&quot; or something) would cost more, but certainly not in the $50B ballpark.<p>Panama seems to make $1B&#x2F;yr on the canal, even restricted as it is, so I can see where they&#x27;re coming from if you believe in a strong and growing unmet demand (for very large ships). But with the existing competition you really have to believe in a level of traffic that will saturate the Panama Canal in any reasonable expanded configuration. And probably the Suez as well.<p>And I&#x27;d be very worried about the Northwest Passage.

So I had read that this guy the point person from China had a dubious history of floating giant infrastructure projects that never materialized. The Nicaraguans I&#x27;ve spoken too think the project is all BS. However once you pay off enough locals, consider it more likely.<p>Big issue is that this will take 120 miles to cut, will they be able to recoup their investment if their fees to traverse are lower than panama, because they have to be to compete. Time crossing this canal has to be slower than panama&#x27;s 48 mile long canal. So assume 2.5x travel time, you have to charge lower fees because of the travel costs associated with the extra distance etc. time = fuel<p>Edit : See this recent article about wang jing <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/04/us-china-canal-insight-idUSBREA4309E20140504" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reuters.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;2014&#x2F;05&#x2F;04&#x2F;us-china-canal-ins...</a>

&quot;&quot;what happens if the diggers dig too deep and disturb the active volcanoes,&quot; says Bol&quot;<p>Is digging disturbing volcanoes really a serious concern?

Whenever there are ambitious plans for a poor country, people think of all kinds of reasons not to - the environment! the culture! the local economy! people&#x27;s family homes! But they forget &quot;these people are already screwed!&quot;. This canal is a risk with a bigger upside than doing nothing.

The necessary background: <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/03/10/the-comandantes-canal" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newyorker.com&#x2F;magazine&#x2F;2014&#x2F;03&#x2F;10&#x2F;the-comandantes...</a>

Is the environmental risk really serious or is the poverty going to cause people to damage the environment anyway? Perhaps the money would bring more resources to protect the wildlife?

For those who wonder how Panama Canal opened up (how hard it is to open a canal at that geography due to diseases, soil, water), you may want read The Path between the Seas<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671244094/bobsutton-20" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;exec&#x2F;obidos&#x2F;ASIN&#x2F;0671244094&#x2F;bobsutton-...</a>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal#Construction_by_Suez_Canal_Company" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Suez_Canal#Construction_by_Suez...</a><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal#Later_developments" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Panama_Canal#Later_developments</a>

The ports at either end of the Panama Canal are controlled by a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited a Hong Kong based company. Wonder if there&#x27;s a connection to this project.

Wouldn&#x27;t this also have disastrous effect on the atlantic fisheries of the gulf of mexico&#x2F;Caribbean ?

Disappointed you can&#x27;t make a Palindrome out of it :(