It is the prestige project of the government of ruler Ortega in Nicaragua: a sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific in competition with the Panama Canal. Now the Chinese construction consortium’s concession has been revoked.
Ten years after the groundbreaking ceremony for a canal between the Atlantic and Pacific in Nicaragua, the authoritarian government of President Daniel Ortega has revoked the Chinese company HKND Group’s construction concession.
The Central American country’s National Assembly announced that the legal framework for the Great Interoceanic Canal would be changed.
Reasons for the termination of the contract have not yet been given. However, there could be a connection with financial problems of the Chinese entrepreneur Wang Jing, who was responsible for the project. As prices on the Chinese stock market fell, he lost a large portion of his assets.
2015: Numerous people take to the streets in Nicaragua against the planned canal.
Criticism of expropriation
In the past there has also been repeated criticism of the construction project. Neighbors of the mammoth project, especially farmers, feared expropriation and the destruction of their land. Around 30,000 people would have had to leave their hometowns for the huge construction project. Conservationists have repeatedly warned of massive negative impacts on the environment.
“It is a shame that Ortega only admits his failure after a decade – after there were already agreements to expropriate farmers and peasants,” said Medardo Mairena, the leader of the activists against the construction project, who is in exile in the USA lives.
According to environmentalists, the construction of the canal would cause devastating damage.
Construction work has so far only been symbolic
Construction work on the planned 278 kilometer long canal was symbolically started in 2014, but never really progressed. Critics had doubted from the start that the Hong Kong consortium HKND, which was relatively inexperienced in infrastructure projects, would even be capable of the megaproject.
The company was supposed to not only build the canal, but also operate it for up to 100 years. It was originally supposed to have been completed in 2019. The government has now said that the Ministry of Transport will take over the administration of the canal authority.
The canal is considered a prestige project of the increasingly authoritarian Ortega government. The president promised tens of thousands of jobs and a boost to Nicaragua’s weak economy. In addition to the waterway, a railway line, an oil pipeline, two ports and an airport were planned. According to the government’s ideas, the waterway, which costs the equivalent of 46.5 billion euros, should compete with the Panama Canal.