China Consortium to Build Panama Canal Alternative

Nicaraguan lawmakers grant a 50-year concession to a Chinese company to design, build & manage a shipping channel across the Central American nation to compete with the Panama Canal, reports Reuters.

The $40 billion proposal by HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co Ltd's (HKND Group) calls for linking Nicaragua's Caribbean and Pacific coasts and includes plans for two free-trade zones, a railway, an oil pipeline and airports.

Hong Kong-based HKND Group is understood to have obtained the Nicaraguan goverment concession.

Source: Reuters