Nicaragua approves route for £23bn rival to Panama Canal

[muriel_volestrangler]

A Nicaraguan committee approved a proposed route on Monday for a $40 billion (£23bn) shipping channel across the Central American country that would compete with the Panama Canal.

The committee of government officials, businessmen and academics approved a 172 mile route from the mouth of the Brito river on the Pacific side to the Punto Gorda river on the Caribbean that was proposed by executives from the HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co Ltd (HKND Group).
...
The proposed canal would pass through Lake Nicaragua, Central America's largest lake, and will be between 230 metres and 520 metres (755 feet to 1,706 feet) wide and 27.6 metres (90 feet) deep, said HKND engineer Dong Yunsong.
...
Opponents of the plan are concerned about the canal's effect on Lake Nicaragua, an important fresh water source for the country, as well as the impact on poor communities.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/nicaragua/10952824/Nicaragua-approves-route-for-23bn-rival-to-Panama-Canal.html

[COLGATE4]

1. Nicaragua was originally more favored than

Panama as the place to build the canal, but the seismic problems (prone to earthquakes) persuaded the builders to go through Panama instead. What's changed?

[malaise]

2. Except that's not the Atlantic Ocean

It's the Caribbean Sea

[MohRokTah]

3. They must have had Fox News produce the map for them. eom

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. The Caribbean is a basin of the Atlantic

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/95846/Caribbean-Sea

[malaise]

5. Sorry

That's the Caribbean Sea. Britannica has no meaning for me here. I live on an island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. The Atlantic Ocean does not touch my shores or the shores of Nicaragua.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. "Atlantic Bridge in Panama"

It will also allow vehicles to cross the Panama Canal on the Atlantic side, whether or not the locks are in operation.

http://www.vinci-construction.com/en/project/15892/atlantic-bridge-panama

[malaise]

8. That map is still wrong

That's a fact.

And the Atlantic is on that side, but like Nicaragua, Panama has a Pacific Ocean side and a Caribbean Sea side.
Guyana and Barbados are not in the Caribbean geographically. One has the Atlantic on its north coast and the other is an island in the Atlantic.

[flamingdem]

7. Yeah, China

The US has better get it together in Latin America or China will be the preferred trading partner with our Southern neighbors.

[hunter]

9. Once upon a time there was a proposal to build another canal using nuclear bombs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plowshare