An "Ordinary Man" to Build a 180 Mile Canal Across Nicaragua. We Will See.

When the United States was deciding how to cut the passage from the east to the west it considered two alternatives: Nicaragua and Panama.  Thanks to fortuitous events and the opportunism of Panamanian patriots, it chose Panama.  The idea of a canal through Nicaragua is being revived by a Chinese businessman.

John Paul Rathbone wrote in the Financial Times that Nicaragua's "congress voted to give Wang Jing the go ahead to build a new canal in its country.  On June 13th, Daniel Ortega left-wing Sandinista government gave HKND, the newly-registered group [a] 50-year concession' to study the feasibility and build a canal."   So HKND is a special vehicle for this $40 billion project.  Furthermore "HKND is working on the feasibility study for the giant project with McKinsey as well as China Railway Construction, a large state-owned group."

Nicaragua is ruled by the left wind Sandinistas under Daniel Ortega.   Mr. Wang is a good friends of President Ortega's son.

And who is Wang Jing? Rathbone described Mr. Wang as a "40-year-old businessman...who also heads Beijing Xinwei, a midsized telecoms company."  The FT's Kathrin Hill interviewed this self described "very ordinary Chinese citizen" for its "Beyond the BRICs" blog. Hille tells us, "he lives with his mother, his younger brother and his daughter in Beijing."


Hille talks with Wang in this video about his plans and asks whether his US$40bn project is a front for the Chinese government's ambitions to extend its influence in the US's backyard:


This is a project not without risks.  Rathbone warns, "[a]lthough global trade is growing, the Panama Canal is nearing the end of a $5bn expansion plan to double its capacity, while global warming means melting ice packs in the Arctic could make a northern route a viable alternative to crossing the central American isthmus by canal."