12,500 Chinese to build Nicaragua’s $40bn canal

[Echo_419]

Are you a complete simpleton??
You know full well what I mean when I say Ortega better not kick poor people off their land (ie little to none in compensation).

Nobody expects it to be built with 100% locals. But if tens of thousands of workers are needed at least they should at least train some of the locals to help. They don't all need to be engineers.

Post like that further & see how fast you will be accused of being a India.

 

[TaiShang]

‘Nicaragua Canal - potential threat to the US and Western powers’
Russia Today, December 2014

BRICS, Central America, China,Construction, Economy, Politics, Regional development, Russia, USA

The Nicaragua Canal can become an alternative route through Central America for China and Russia, as well as an alternative route for potential military use right in America’s backyard, international consultant and author Adrian Salbuchi told RT.

Nicaragua has begun the most ambitious construction project in Latin America - a waterway connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans that is supposed to become an alternative to the Panama Canal. It is 278 km long, will cost around $50 billion and provide jobs for 50,000 people. The construction is being run by a Hong Kong company and should be completed by 2020. The project is supposed to boost Nicaragua’s GDP.

Meanwhile, ecologists fear the giant ship canal will endanger Lake Nicaragua - Central America's largest lake and Nicaragua’s largest main water source – which the waterway will run through. Locals are concerned their homes and farm lands are under threat. According to some estimates, around 30,000 people may be displaced by the waterway.

RT discussed the project and protests it sparked in Nicaragua with international consultant and author Adrian Salbuchi.

People protest burning tires against the inauguration of the works of an inter-oceanic canal in Rivas, Nicaragua on December 22, 2014.(AFP Photo / STR)


RT: The residents are promised compensation. Why are they protesting? Were they misinformed about the project?

Adrian Salbuchi: It’s understandable because we are talking about the mega project that will displace many people; some estimates say as many as 30,000 farmers will be displaced. There will be an ecological impact, no doubt about it. However, I think we have to be very careful to distinguish between what is this spontaneous reaction of many of these farmers which is probably genuine, and what may also be some engineering of social convulsion from foreign powers, not only the US that had been doing that in the so-called Arab Spring and that had been doing that throughout Latin America for many decades. So I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the exaggeration or some of the future problems do come from some American agitators or Western agitators. Don’t forget this is the country which is governed by President Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista Liberation Front, who are enemies of the US for many decades.

RT: Just to push you a bit on this, do you think there may be a foreign state involved?

AS: Absolutely. And we should even take it together with what just happened with Cuba because if America is trying to bring Cuba into the fold, it might try to play a similar card with Nicaragua to try to range them away as in the case of Cuba from Russia, in the case of Nicaragua from China. We have to see not just the trade implications that are huge, and the economic implications that are also huge, as well as social and ecological, but much more so the geopolitical implications. This is a Chinese private company, but we all know that very likely behind the Chinese investment there are geopolitical factors being handled and being driven by the Chinese government quite rightly, who have an increasing interest throughout Latin America.

RT: There are a lot of expectations for the waterway. How important will it be and what benefits can it bring?

AS: For Nicaragua they will be enormous because it will definitely improve their living standards all together. But from the point of view of China it will be an alternative route for commerce, for trade and even for future potential military use right in America’s backyard. When I say China, we might talk not just about China but also about BRICS, notably Russia and China, which are the two main geopolitical BRICS partners. I think it’s very important to understand the problem, to stop looking at Mercator projections of the global map and start looking at the actual globe. The best way to understand geopolitics is with a globe, and if you look at it you will see how very important this alternative route through Central America will become for China, for Russia and potentially it’s an important threat to the US and the Western powers.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

The US doesn't own the Panama Canal just like it doesn't own the Suez Canal

Russian warship Admiral Chabanenko going through the Panama Canal.

 

[Yizhi]

When I say China, we might talk not just about China but also about BRICS, notably Russia and China, which are the two main geopolitical BRICS partners. I think it’s very important to understand the problem, to stop looking at Mercator projections of the global map and start looking at the actual globe.

russia is desperate to try to drag china into the 'west against rest' narrative......

 

[TaiShang]

The US doesn't own the Panama Canal just like it doesn't own the Suez Canal

"From the time the USA built the canal (which opened in 1914) until 1979 it was controlled, defended and run solely by the USA, including the war period of World War II. There was a 20 year transition period starting in 1979 to full Panamanian control in 1999 that was the result of the Torrijos-Carter treaties of 1979

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrijos%E2...

***

US had effective control from 1914 to 1999, which is about 75 years.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

"From the time the USA built the canal (which opened in 1914) until 1979 it was controlled, defended and run solely by the USA, including the war period of World War II. There was a 20 year transition period starting in 1979 to full Panamanian control in 1999 that was the result of the Torrijos-Carter treaties of 1979

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrijos%E2...

***

US had effective control from 1914 to 1999, which is about 75 years.

You *think* we did. Tell that to Manuel Noriega.

 

[xunzi]

Everyone knows the West will play the dirty game to sabotage the canal build. It is unfortunate that the Nicaraguan cannot live peacefully and developed in fair manner thanks to the West's fearful of competition.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Everyone knows the West will play the dirty game to sabotage the canal build. It is unfortunate that the Nicaraguan cannot live peacefully and developed in fair manner thanks to the West's fearful of competition.

If anything the Panamanian's may try something as it will be competition for them.
Costa Rica is stuck in the middle of these two.

 

[xunzi]

If anything the Panamanian's may try something as it will be competition for them.
Costa Rica is stuck in the middle of these two.

So you are suggesting that you will support this project and will not try any dirty trick? LOL Let cut the crap out and put your money in your project development so we know you are seriously backing this project up!

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

So you are suggesting that you will support this project and will not try any dirty trick? LOL Let cut the crap out and put your money in your project development so we know you are seriously backing this project up!

Of course! Just negate the lease from Chinese control to Nicaraguan control and we will pony up the dough,

Now put YOUR money where your mouth is. Can you handle THAT change?? Or do you want to back down now?

Of course Nicaragua can also pull a Venezuela/Cuba and just nationalize the Canal Zone seeing as it is a private Chinese company that will own it. Hugo Chavez did it with oil companies and Castro did it with a bunch of private companies. Castro couldn't get around the US government's lease at Guantanimo as that was a treaty between governments.

They don't have to worry about being a pariah in the international community as you can see how Venezuela and Cuba are still treated well by countries that didn't have anything nationalized.

 

[TaiShang]

Nicaragua canal ‘to create 25,000 local jobs’

In this June 14, 2013, file photo, President Daniel Ortega, left, and Chinese businessman Wang Jing hold up a concession agreement for the construction of a multibillion-dollar canal at the Casa de los Pueblos in Managua.

11:28 pm, January 09, 2015

The Associated Press MANAGUA (AP) — A planned $50 billion transoceanic canal across Nicaragua will create jobs for 25,000 Nicaraguans and 25,000 more for foreigners, says the Chinese company granted a concession to build and operate the waterway.

In a new report posted on its website, HKND Group said half of the latter figure would be for Chinese workers and the rest for other nationalities. Estimates of 50,000 jobs directly related to the canal have been around for months, but officials had previously not broken down how many would be for Nicaraguans.

Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Nicaraguan Council of Private Enterprise, said it has been clear from the beginning that the country lacks the ability and expertise to carry out a project of this magnitude on its own.

“Therefore one needs to understand that this kind of project is going to require contracting foreign labor,” Aguerri said.

HKND projected a completion date in early 2020 and said the canal could be up and running as early as June of that year.

President Daniel Ortega’s government says it is confident the waterway, intended to compete with the Panama Canal to the south, will stimulate a sluggish economy and reduce unemployment that is running over 40 percent. But the plan has come under fire from the political opposition, ecologists who warn of irreversible environmental damage and villagers who have protested against expected property seizures.

Some experts call the project financially unfeasible and express doubt it will ever get built despite groundbreaking last month on roads related to the construction.

***

"The United States obtained full control of the Panama Canal in 1903 through the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty with Panama after sending warships to help Panama gain independence from Columbia. The treaty stipulated that, for a one-time payment of $10 million, a yearly rental fee of $250,000 and the promise of U.S. protection, Panama granted the United States perpetual control of the canal itself and five miles of land on either side.

The United States first planned to build a canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific through Nicaragua, but the attempt never got beyond negotiations. Meanwhile, the French attempted to build a canal across Panama, but after seven years of effort and the loss of 20,000 lives, the project went bankrupt. In 1902, the United States bought the French-owned canal territory for $40 million. In 1903, the United States and Columbia signed the Hay-Herran Treaty, with terms similar to the subsequent treaty with Panama, but the Colombian senate refused to ratify it. President Theodore Roosevelt assured the Panamanians that, if they revolted and declared their independence, the U.S. Navy would back them up. In return, the new Panamanian government approved the treaty with the United States.

The United States held full control of the Panama Canal and the Canal Zone until 1979, when it turned over most of the Canal Zone and partial control of the canal to the government of Panama. On Dec. 31, 1999, the United States withdrew completely from the canal and Canal Zone and turned over operations to Panama."

Let's hope the Chinese consortium will have at least 70 years of control of the Nicaragua Canal. It will be a refreshing scene to challenge the US dominance in its supposed backyard.

 

[opruh]

What a very nice country China is, creating jobs for other nationalities.

 

[xunzi]

Of course! Just negate the lease from Chinese control to Nicaraguan control and we will pony up the dough,

Now put YOUR money where your mouth is. Can you handle THAT change?? Or do you want to back down now?

Of course Nicaragua can also pull a Venezuela/Cuba and just nationalize the Canal Zone seeing as it is a private Chinese company that will own it. Hugo Chavez did it with oil companies and Castro did it with a bunch of private companies. Castro couldn't get around the US government's lease at Guantanimo as that was a treaty between governments.

They don't have to worry about being a pariah in the international community as you can see how Venezuela and Cuba are still treated well by countries that didn't have anything nationalized.

The term is for us to handle the development and the exclusive rights build port, hotel, and hospital, and maintain the canal which is only right since as a builder, they will need us to keep up with the project. The right to decide ship passage is entirely up to the Nicaraguan government. The revenue and transit fee they receive from that is split in percentage between the Nicaragua and private investor of the project.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

The right to decide ship passage is entirely up to the Nicaraguan government..

So when another dictator type comes to power in Nicaragua like Panama's Manuel Noriega did you'll be ok if he bans only your ships from passing the canal.

 

[xunzi]

So when another dictator type comes to power in Nicaragua like Panama's Manuel Noriega did you'll be ok if he bans only your ships from passing the canal.

Depending on the term of the agreement, they cannot just ban our ships. We will sue in the international court. If assuming the term will not cover that, then it is their sovereign right to decide who they will let it pass through. You must remember, there is two competing canals in South America. If we can't go pass the Nicaragua canal, then we will use the Panama. It is simple competition. However, I doubt they will be stupid enough to ban the one that build the canal for them consider the risks and the money we will bring to them with our massive ships trespassing.