Nicaragua to Build $30 Billion Waterway to Rival Panama Canal

The 51 mile Panama Canal was built back in 1914 to offer ships a faster route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Five percent of the annual world trade passes through the canal, more than one million ships since 1914, which last year helped generate $1 billion for Panama in 2011.

Nicaragua was considering the construction of its own canal, until Panama beat them to it, however once again the rumours of a Nicaraguan Canal are surfacing, with countries such as China, Russia, Brazil, and Japan, willing to invest $30 billion in order to develop another route between the Atlantic and Pacific. The Nicaraguan government hopes that the waterway will promote foreign investment and development in the country, which is the second poorest in the Americas, after Haiti.

Eden Pastor, the leader of the project, has said that his team has “had talks with Japan, China, Russia, Venezuela, Brazil and South Korea and everyone is interested” in contributing to the $30 billion plan.

On Tuesday the Nicaraguan President, Daniel Ortega, submitted a draft bill for consideration which detailed six potential routes for the new canal, one of which would pass through the San Juan river on the border of Costa Rica.

At the moment the Panama Canal is in the middle of a $5.25 billion project designed to expand its size and allow for larger ships, but the Nicaraguan Canal will be built even wider and deeper in order to accommodate the largest ships that wish to pass through.

By. James Burgess of Oilprice.com