Hong Kong: Chinese investment is behind an ambitious project to build a rival waterway to the Panama Canal in Nicaragua.
Hong Kong-registered company, HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment, has been linked with the plans which have been championed by the Central American nation’s president Daniel Ortega.
Little is known about the Hong Kong-registered firm except that it’s sole director Wang Jing lives in Beijing. SinoShip News was unable to confirm whether the director was the founder of China's largest maritime law firm, Wang Jing & Co.
The idea of a canal linking the Pacific and the Atlantic is one that has done the rounds in Nicaragua for centuries. Expected to cost $40bn and to take 11 years to build, the project is being fast tracked by President Ortega who will put the proposal to a vote in congress today with final approval set for Thursday.
The giant project has left many befuddled – the country does not even have a paved road connecting the two oceans, and yet Ortega is rushing to build this huge waterway. Proponents of the waterway suggest that the expanded Panama Canal will be saturated by 2025. [10/06/13]
