Serious Economic Losses By Chinese Promoter Puts Nicaragua Canal In Doubt

Fresh doubts have arisen over a Chinese billionaire’s plan to build interoceanic canal through Nicaragua after it emerged that China’s stock market crisis wiped out nearly 85% of his fortune.

TODAY NICARAGUA – Wang Jing, the owner of the concession for the great work, may have lost 84% of his personal assets in recent stock market upheavals in China.

While there has never been complete certainty about the realization of the gigantic work which could radically change the development prospects of one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere, news of the serious economic losses suffered by its promoter Wang Jing, tip the balance of opinions on the Grand Canal to the negative side.

The commercial and financial viability of the project has never been confirmed, and only the argument (never made official and expressly denied) that behind the company is the long-term strategic interest of the Chinese government, has maintained cautious optimism about its realization.

Although there have been many expressions of interest from potential investors, as yet, there has never been a presentation definite sources of financing, and the person who apparently paid the $500 million spent on preliminary studies is the very same Wang Jing, who according to an article on Bbc.com only has about $1.1 billion left out of an estimated $10.2 billion that he had before the collapse of the Chinese stock market.

“… One of the studies funded by Jing, released last week, concluded that the initiative still had “a lot of risks and uncertainties’. The Project offers real benefits for the environment and the people of Nicaragua,” says the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, prepared by the British consultancy firm Environmental Resources Management. ‘But only if the business case is robust, the financing to complete construction can be assured and the Project be constructed and operated according to international standards,” adds the report, which also makes it clear that in order to reduce uncertainty, numerous new studies are still needed.”

Source: Centralamericandata.com