Nicaragua Grand Canal will be three times longer than Panama’s
February 24, 2015
By CCE
Nicaragua has started work on a new canal to cut through the Central American country from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. The channel will be three times longer than the Panama Canal, stretching 278 kilometers long. The Panama Canal is 77 kilometers long.
According to a report in Scientific American, the Nicaraguan Grand Canal’s route has already been determined, as well as the number of ships that will be permitted to pass through it each day. It will be 27 metres deep, and between 230 and 520 metres wide, with a protection border of five kilometres on either side.
Despite the fact that a large section of the passage would be through tropical Lake Nicaragua (also known as Lake Cocibolca) and through forests and wetlands, there has been little research done on the environmental impacts.
President Daniel Ortega first announced the project in February 2012 and sees the canal as positive not only for the country, but for the all of Central America. The Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development (HKND), company has been contracted for the construction, which is estimated to cost $50 billion and is projected to take five years.
Click here to read an article dated February 11, 2015, in Scientific American.
