Rising Anger As Nicaragua Canal To Break Ground

Nicaraguan officials will start building access roads on state-owned land as the first step in creating a canal expected to rival that of Panama — a project supporters say will directly employ 50,000 people and dramatically boost the country's GDP. [...] political opposition is virtually unheard of in a country where Ortega's Sandinista party dominates all branches of government, and the president and his wife, the government's powerful communications chief, keep a tight lid on dissent. "What it shows is that a significant part of the Nicaraguan people have not bought into the canal project," said Francisco Aguirre-Sacasa, an economist, former Nicaraguan foreign minister and ex-ambassador to the United States. Last year, Ortega's allies in Congress fast-tracked legislation granting HKND a 50-year concession, renewable for another 50, to build and operate a canal in return for a payment of $10 million a year once it's up and running. In late July, just two weeks after HKND announced its preferred route for the canal, ERM held community meetings in seven cities over 10 days, according to a document on HKND's website. A person with firsthand knowledge of the impact assessments, who lacked authorization to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity, said not enough time was allotted for proper study and consultation. Telemaco Talavera, rector of the National Agrarian University and spokesman for Nicaragua's Canal Commission, said a number of changes were being made based on the studies' recommendations, such as relocating the planned Pacific port to protect mangroves and the entry to the Caribbean to protect indigenous villages and fish populations. An AP investigation last year found that HKND, which has no experience in canal-building or any project of this magnitude, had a poor track record, with enterprises failing to get off the ground in some 20 countries. [...] it's not clear that the company has met its stated goal of raising some $8 billion in initial financing.

 

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