This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
NICARAGUA’S canal commission approved an environmental impact study on Thursday, paving the way for a £33 billion Chinese interocean project.
Canal commission representative Manuel Coronel Kautz said the decision authorises China’s HKND Company to start structural and construction design work.
Authorities have already approved the proposed 172-mile route for the canal, which will compete with US-built Panama canal to the south, and preliminary work has begun.
Washington controlled the Panama canal from 1904 until end of 1999, only transferring it to Panamanian sovereignty on the condition of permanent neutrality for the waterway.
Green groups have opposed the huge scheme by President Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista government.
Environmentalist Jaime Incer Barquero claimed the commission’s decision lacked transparency and independence.
Anti-canal lawyer Monica Lopez Baltodano said campaigners would look abroad for support.
“The only path left for us Nicaraguans is international appeals and demonstrations across the entire country,” she said.
