Free Republic

Nicaraguan dream to rival Panama's trade route Price of Central American ambition: $25bn and 10 years' construction over 175 miles Rupert Widdicombe in Managua Monday October 20, 2003 The Guardian (UK) Multi-billion dollar plans to create a rival to the 90-year-old Panama canal by linking a network of rivers and cutting through the jungle of central America are being backed by the goverment of Nicaragua. The new waterway - being proposed by a public private partnership called the Grand Canal Foundation - will cost an estimated $25bn (£15bn) and take 10 years to build. Its proponents say it would turn...