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Nicaragua's congress rejects bill to block interoceanic canal project
Source: Agence France-Presse
Nicaragua's congress rejects bill to block interoceanic canal project
AFP in Managua
Tuesday 12 April 2016 20.01 BST
Nicaragua’s congress has scuppered a bill backed by thousands of people hoping to block a cross-country canal project, saying the legislature does not have the authority to weigh the issue.
The draft legislation presented by rural dwellers living along the proposed canal’s path “is rejected as inadmissable”, congress’s first secretary wrote in a letter made public on Monday, adding that the chamber lacks the “jurisdiction” to handle it.
The government hopes the ambitious canal project will rival Panama’s lucrative canal, which handles 5% of commercial maritime traffic.
Some 28,000 Nicaraguans signed a petition backing the bill, which sought to block the state’s authorisation giving the canal project to a Chinese consortium, HKND, to build and run for 50 years.
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The legislature argued on Monday that it is unable to debate the citizen’s bill because of a 2013 ruling by the country’s supreme court rejecting a complaint against the canal and drawing a line under the issue.
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AFP in Managua
Tuesday 12 April 2016 20.01 BST
Nicaragua’s congress has scuppered a bill backed by thousands of people hoping to block a cross-country canal project, saying the legislature does not have the authority to weigh the issue.
The draft legislation presented by rural dwellers living along the proposed canal’s path “is rejected as inadmissable”, congress’s first secretary wrote in a letter made public on Monday, adding that the chamber lacks the “jurisdiction” to handle it.
The government hopes the ambitious canal project will rival Panama’s lucrative canal, which handles 5% of commercial maritime traffic.
Some 28,000 Nicaraguans signed a petition backing the bill, which sought to block the state’s authorisation giving the canal project to a Chinese consortium, HKND, to build and run for 50 years.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
The legislature argued on Monday that it is unable to debate the citizen’s bill because of a 2013 ruling by the country’s supreme court rejecting a complaint against the canal and drawing a line under the issue.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/12/nicaraguas-congress-rejects-bill-panama-canal-project