Nicaragua’s alternative Panama canal plans

Plans for an inter-oceanic canal in Nicaragua have been announced by Hong Kong-based HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment and its local arm HKND. The US$40 billion project involves the construction of an alternative to the Panama Canal. The proposed 280 kilometre, which aims to compete with the Panama canal, would connect Nicaragua's Caribbean and Pacific coasts. It includes the development of a deepwater port at each end of the canal, an oil pipeline running alongside it a dry canal for the transpo
July 24, 2014 Read time: 2 mins

Plans for an inter-oceanic canal in Nicaragua have been announced by Hong Kong-based HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment and its local arm HKND.

The US$40 billion project involves the construction of an alternative to the Panama Canal. The proposed 280 kilometre, which aims to compete with the Panama canal, would connect Nicaragua's Caribbean and Pacific coasts. It includes the development of a deepwater port at each end of the canal, an oil pipeline running alongside it a dry canal for the transportation of cargo via freight rail lines, a new airport, highways, free trade zones, and a tourist complex.

Once under way, construction would take at least ten years and could generate 40,000 jobs and double the country's GDP per capita.

However, the plans have raised concerns from several environmental organisations. HKND has yet to carry out an environmental impact study and environmental reports say the route calls for the removal of 400,000 hectares of forests and wetlands, encroachment into indigenous communities and the contamination of Nicaragua's largest freshwater source, Lake Nicaragua.

Related Content

  • Canada invests in new Asia-Pacific Gateway transportation infrastructure projects
    July 30, 2015
    The Canadian government has announced an investment of approximately US$12 million for nine Asia-Pacific Gateway transportation infrastructure projects in British Columbia that support Asia-Pacific trade and boost the competitive advantages of Canada's Asia-Pacific Gateway. These new projects will create jobs and economic growth by reducing bottlenecks, addressing capacity issues and enhancing the efficiency of the transportation system in moving goods, services and people to and from the fast-growing As
    Read More
  • ACE report: private sector and user-pay for English roads
    May 16, 2018
    It’s one minute to midnight for funding England’s roads, according to a timely new report - and the clock’s big hand is pointing to some form of user-pay solution, reports David Arminas. Is there any way out of future user-pay funding for England’s highway infrastructure? The answer is a resounding ‘no’, according to the recently-published report Funding Roads for the Future. The 25-page document by the London-based Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) calls for a radical rethink about how to
    Read More
  • Policy decisions are ‘key determinant for more sustainable transport’
    December 16, 2013
    The volume of global transport could double or even quadruple by 2050, according to a new study released by the International Transport Forum (ITF). GDP growth, freight intensity of economic activity and demographic change are important drivers of this growth, but key determinants for the level of future increases are policy choices, according to the ITF Transport Outlook: a report containing long-run scenarios for global transport activity and related CO2 emissions. China and India drive transport volu
    Read More
  • Latest ITS technology upgrades India's toll systems
    November 13, 2012
    An ambitious programme of new and upgraded interoperable toll systems has been launched in India, featuring far-reaching technology developments. David Crawford reports. In April this year, Indian Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways CP Joshi inaugurated a new era of electronic toll collection (ETC) in India when he unveiled the country’s first RFID-based tolling installation. This was at a recently-completed plaza at Chandimandir, near the city of Panchkula in the northern state of Haryana. The sys
    Read More

Highlighted Content