San Francisco: The main work on the Chinese backed Nicaragua Canal will start at the end of this year, a spokesperson for the country’s Interoceanic Grand Canal Commission has confirmed.
Preliminary work on the rival to the Panama Canal launched at the end of last year, including peripheral infrastructure such as traffic roads.
The main construction work will begin at Puerto Brito on the Pacific and the other terminal of Puerto Aguila on the Atlantic.
The $50bn project, initiated by Beijing telecoms tycoon Wang Jing, should be completed by 2019. The 278 km long waterway will allow 18,000 teu boxships to cross through Central America. It comes during a massive era of global canal construction. The expanded Suez Canal, with a secondary channel, officially opens in 10 days, while Panama’s expanded canal, which should double its annual capacity, is set to open next year. There’s even talk again of the Kra Canal, a waterway though southern Thailand.
