2014-02-26/Why the Plan to Dig a Canal Across Nicaragua Could Be a Very Bad Idea

title/short::Why the Plan to Dig a Canal Across Nicaragua Could Be a Very Bad Idea But there are many lingering questions. How HKND – apparently the only company to submit a bid – managed to land the deal, isn’t clear, leaving many Nicaraguans frustrated by their government’s lack of transparency. “Normally when you have a major infrastructure project you have to place bids, that is the law,” says Jorge Huete-Pérez, a biologist and president of Nicaraguan Academy of Sciences. “Here they overlooked the law and chose this company that has no experience building infrastructure.”
 * when: when posted::2014-02-26
 * author: author::Greg Miller
 * source: site::Wired
 * topics: topic::Nicaragua topic::transparency topic::environment topic:Wang Jing topic::Hong Kong Nicaragua Development Group topic::Environmental Resources Management
 * keywords HKND
 * link: URL::http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/02/nicaragua-canal/
 * title: title::Why the Plan to Dig a Canal Across Nicaragua Could Be a Very Bad Idea
 * summary: By the end of this year, if a Chinese entrepreneur gets his way, digging will begin on a waterway that would stretch roughly 180 miles across Nicaragua to unite the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Giant container ships capable of carrying consumer electronics by the millions (or T-shirts by the billions) could begin making the passage by 2019, according to the most optimistic projections.

Exactly where the money to build the canal will come from is another mystery, as is the role, if any, the Chinese government will play. Wang Jing has denied that the government is involved in the project, as have government officials. But some analysts suspect otherwise.