Nicaragua Canal

The Nicaraguan Canal (Spanish: Canal de Nicaragua), formally the Nicaraguan Canal and Development Project (also referred to as the Nicaragua Grand Canal, or the Nicaragua Interoceanic Grand Canal) is a planned shipping route through Nicaragua to connect the Caribbean Sea (and therefore the Atlantic Ocean) with the Pacific Ocean. As of November 2015, no significant construction has taken place. It had been announced that construction of ports and locks would start before the end of 2015, but no money has yet been deposited for construction. In November 2015 the date of commencement for major construction works was put back to late 2016.

In June 2013, Nicaragua's National Assembly approved a bill to grant a 50-year concession to finance and manage the project to the private Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company (HKND Group) headed by Wang Jing, a Chinese billionaire. The concession can be extended for another 50 years once the waterway is operational. Construction of the canal, estimated to cost 40 to 50 billion US dollars, began in December 2014, with completion due within five years. However a media report in November 2015 suggested the project would now be delayed or even possibly scuttled due to the personal fortune of Wang Jing having taken a sudden dive with the recent Chinese stock market rout. The Nicaraguan government has failed to present reliable information about whether or not the project can be financed, thus casting doubt over whether or not it can be completed. Scientists are concerned about the environmental impact of the project, as Lake Nicaragua is Central America's key freshwater reservoir.

Nicaragua

Nicaragua (ⁱ/ˌnɪkəˈrɑːɡwəˌ -ˈræ-ˌ -ɡjuə/; Spanish: [nikaˈɾaɣwa]), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (Spanish:  República de Nicaragua ), is the largest country in the Central American isthmus. The population of Nicaragua is slightly over 6 million. Nicaragua's capital, Managua, is the third-largest city in Central America. The multi-ethnic population includes indigenous peoples, Europeans, Africans, Asians, and people of Middle Eastern origin. The main language is Spanish. Native tribes on the eastern coast speak their own languages.

The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century. Nicaragua gained independence from Spain in 1821. Since its independence, Nicaragua has undergone periods of political unrest, dictatorship, and fiscal crisis—the most notable causes that led to the Nicaraguan Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Nicaragua is a representative democratic republic.

The mixture of cultural traditions has generated substantial diversity in art and literature, particularly the latter given the literary contributions of Nicaraguan poets and writers, including Rubén Darío, Pablo Antonio Cuadra and Ernesto Cardenal. The biological diversity, warm tropical climate and active volcanoes make Nicaragua an increasingly popular tourist destination.