Nicaragua canal work due on December

More than a century after it was first proposed, preparatory work on an inter-oceanic canal through Nicaragua will begin on 24 December, according to a senior government official.

Despite concerns among the scientific community that the canal could cause widespread environmental damage, Paul Oquist, a close adviser to the president, Daniel Ortega, said construction of roads and a wharf for the Chinese-run $40-billion project would soon get under way.

Oquist predicted the canal would double the GDP of Latin America’s second poorest country and allow the Sandinista government to achieve a long-held goal of eradicating extreme poverty.

Source: The Guardian