Attempts to build a canal across Nicaragua
The United States abandoned plans to construct a waterway in Nicaragua in the early 20th century after it purchased the French interests in the Panama Canal, which has served as the main connecting route across Central America since its completion.
From Morrito, ships would continue westward across Lake Nicaragua to a port near the town of La Virgen in the Department of Rivas.
The colonial administration of New Spain conducted preliminary surveys as early as 1551, under the supervision of a Spanish explorer named Gormara.
Nothing came of this initial attempt, but the idea was revived in 1781 by the Spanish Crown and surveys were made again, this time under the supervision of an officer named Galisteo.
[12] In a letter sent to the Nicaragua Canal Board in 1895, Swiss geographer and nearby Costa Rica resident Henri François Pittier warned that construction of the project would be difficult to carry out, as earthquakes and heavy rainfall were common in the country.
The Nicaraguan Canal Commission carried out the most thorough hydrological survey yet of the San Juan River and its drainage basin, and in 1899 concluded that an interoceanic project was feasible at a total cost of US$138 million.
[14] In the late 19th century, the United States government negotiated with President José Santos Zelaya to lease the land to build a canal through Nicaragua.
[15] Before Corea completed a draft of the Nicaragua proposal, Congress was considering the Spooner Act to authorize the Panama Canal.
In 1902, taking advantage of a year with increased volcanic activity in the Caribbean Sea, Cromwell planted a story in The New York Sun reporting that the Momotombo volcano had erupted and caused a series of seismic shocks.
Under the Bryan–Chamorro Treaty of 1916, the United States paid Nicaragua US$3 million for an option in perpetuity and free of taxation, including 99-year leases of the Corn Islands and a site for a naval base on the Gulf of Fonseca.
[22] In 1999, Nicaragua's National Assembly unanimously approved an exploration concession, Law 319,[23] for the construction of a shallow-draft waterway along the San Juan River, known as the Ecocanal.
The Intermodal System for Global Transport (SIT Global), involving Nicaraguan and Canadian and American investors, proposed a combined railway, oil pipeline, and fiberoptic cable; a competing group, the Inter-Ocean Canal of Nicaragua, proposes building a railway linking ports on either coast.
On October 2, 2006, President Enrique Bolaños, at a summit for defense ministers of the Western Hemisphere, officially announced that Nicaragua intended to proceed with the project.
However, no progress has been made to date and the construction of the Third Set of Locks for the Panama Canal has apparently dampened Russian enthusiasm for the project.
[32] In 2010, Nicaragua signed a contract with two Korean developers, Dongmyeong Engineering & Architecture Consultants (DMEC) and Ox Investment, to construct a deepwater port and facilities at Monkey Point on the Caribbean coast to improve capacity there.
[33] On July 27, 2012, engineering services provider Royal HaskoningDHV announced[34] that the Nicaraguan government commissioned a feasibility study to be completed in early 2013 at a cost of US$720,000.
This because it would not be necessary to create an artificial lake to foresee the locks of water, and it would also require but the moving of small amounts of soil (compared to the other routes).
[39] HKND Group entered the study phase of development to assess the technological and economic feasibility of constructing a canal in Nicaragua, as well as the potential environmental, social, and regional implications of various routes.
HKND Group Chairman Wang Jing spoke during the starting ceremony of the first works of the canal in Brito town.
Construction of the new waterway would be run by HKND Group—Hong Kong-based HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co Ltd., which is controlled by Wang Jing.
[43] Daley reported that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega had not mentioned the Canal in months,[43] and that cows were still browsing for grass in the field where Wang held his ground-breaking.
[43] Following financial difficulties, Wang finally closed the HKND Headquarter in China in April 2018, leaving no forwarding address or telephone numbers to be reached.
[44] Even though HKND vanished, the Nicaraguan government indicates that it will go ahead with the vast land expropriations of 908 km2 (351 sq mi) under land expropriation Law 840 enacted in 2013, which includes a concession for carrying out seven sub-projects, among them ports, oil pipelines, free-trade zones, and develop tourist areas that could be realized in any part of the national territory.
[49] Activists noted that the canal contract established that it must be dissolved in 72 months, if the investor has not obtained the money to start the project; that deadline was 14 June 2019, so they assert that the Law 840 (related expropriations) must be repealed.
[51] As part of Ortega's new proposal, the Chinese company CAMC had signed a contract with Nicaragua's Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure for the construction of a deep-water port in Bluefields.
