Nicaragua Canal plans raise concerns

Luis Carlos Lopez / VOXXI

Despite assurances made by the Chinese businessman that the project to build a canal in Nicaragua is going to be transparent and “no joke,” there’s growing concern over the socio-economic and environmental impact such project would bring.

Last week, Nicaragua gave Wang Jing — the owner of Hong Kong-based HKND Group — a 50-year concession and a green light to start building a canal.

Jing, who picked up the $40 billion tab to build a cross-country shipping project, proposed a 178-mile transoceanic canal in Nicaragua that would connect the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean via Lake Nicaragua.

Canal in Nicaragua would trump Panama’s

As reported by The New York Times on June 13, 2013, the canal’s pathway would “entail slashing through around 180 miles of thick tropical terrain — roughly triple the length of the Panama Canal — and then pumping a virtual sea through a series of locks deep enough for massive cargo ships.”

With a 2014 start date, the project is said to take six years to complete.

Any route cutting through Nicaragua troubles environmentalists who argue that the economic interests were placed ahead of preserving the country’s natural resources.

Centro Alexander von Humboldt, an environmental non-governmental organization, denounced the project saying on its website:

“The eventual construction of the Great Inter-Oceanic Nicaragua Canal poses the greatest threat to the environmental conditions in the country’s history and the greatest risk for the unprotected Nicaraguan population to meet their basic needs for water and safe food.”

Aside from the environmental concerns, Violeta Granera, director of the non-partisan civic organization Movimiento por Nicaragua (MpN), told VOXXI that the government’s lack of transparency was also disturbing.

Granera, who lives in the country’s capital, Managua, said that the resurgent talks of building a canal in Nicaragua — a project that has been on the table for 150 years — places the sovereignty of the country in danger because it leaves socio-economic and environmental concerns in the hands of outsiders.

Granera answered a few more questions posed by VOXXI regarding the potential impact — political and environmental — impact a canal would have on Nicaragua and its people.

VOXXI: As someone who lives in Nicaragua, what is your assessment on the country’s view toward the possible canal?

Violeta Granera: The dream of having a canal in my country has long been a fascination. It is seen as a ‘miracle drug’ to alleviate Nicaragua from poverty and the country’s lagging development. At the same time, it’s hard to say that people vehemently oppose the construction of a canal.

More worrisome for me is that those in power are using this project for dark purposes. They are using the canal to manipulate national sentiment without seeking a true consensus from the people. I think there is more awareness about what we need as a country, but there’s still a large part of the population that is uninformed or that can be easily fooled, especially with a government that has bought 80 percent of the media and that is determined to sell this project as feasible and beneficial to the poor. The municipal and national leaders have an obligation to bring information to the people and counter the lack of transparency with which it has handled this issue.

VOXXI: As a non-partisan organization where does MpN stand on the canal?

VG: The MpN is not against a project that is backed by the people and aims to improve the economic and social development, but we oppose the canal on the following grounds:

1. It violates our Constitution, laws and international treaties we have signed as a country, including the rights of indigenous communities in the Caribbean. This law gives sovereignty and environmental stewardship to a private Chinese company, leaving the people of Nicaragua defenseless.

2. The project was approved by a majority of Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN) government officials — many are products of electoral fraud.

3. The canal would seriously risk the environment, especially Lake Nicaragua — the largest natural freshwater reservoir in Central America.

VOXXI: How realistic is it to expect a canal in Nicaragua by 2020?

VG: Many believe that the canal will not be built and that it’s nothing more than a government strategy to continue selling illusions to people for political gains. Regardless of what happens, our organization is doing extensive outreach efforts to educate the people on the consequences this project brings.

Republished from VOXXI under a Creative Commons license.