Posted on 10/01/2006 3:28:29 AM PDT by tlb
Nicaragua intends to spend $20 billion on a new Central American waterway that was initially proposed in the 19th century.
If approved by Nicaragua's Congress, the project would be a joint public-private venture financed by unnamed investors, said Lindolfo Monjarretz, a spokesman for Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos.
"We will have a deeper draft than the Panama Canal and reach a different market than Panama," Monjarretz said in a telephone interview. "The construction of the canal … will be pushed forward by Nicaragua because it's necessary for global trade."
The official announcement will come Monday.
"We know that for every 100 ships that come to the Americas, only 7 use the Panama Canal," he said, according to Nicaraguan media reports. "There's a lot of business to share."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
THose poor pathetic fools!!!! Kar Rove as I type is creating a northwest passage with his global warming devices.
BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Well.. China's probably hoping that Jimmah Carter will help them get this one as well.
You know, instead of a wall, maybe we should be thinking of a 700 mile canal instead?
The environmental impact statement is gonna be a bitch...
Americans on one side .. Mexicans on the other, ALL making bazillions of dollars an hour in its construction ... guards from both sides .. ON both sides of the locks .. shared revenues from the user ships ...
You don't need no stinking impact statement, hombre!
Oh, the eco-warriors are gonna love this. Looking at the above map, I assume this canal would destroy the Rio San Juan and Rio Indio (the easiest way east of Lake Nicaragua), and go up against the Costa Rican border.
A major, major project through rainy, muddy, mountainous jungle.
"Path Between the Seas" is an excellent read and "must read" research for anyone who wants to seriously discuss these issues. I read it while stationed in Panama, OIC Ft Clayton Health Clinic 1990-1993.
The Nicaraugua route is one of 5 considered by Congress initially. Panama won because of earthquakes and volcanos that threatened all other routes. This remains the same today.
That said, Nicaraugua has the advantage of being a potentially sea level route which is an assest that the Panama Canal does not have and hence is not rain water dependent. Over the decades deforestation of Panama has caused an ever decreasing rainfall which is one factor that makes the Panama Canal an ultimate loser in any case.
Panama was able for a time to overcome the lack of freshwater by storing some in a higher reservoir, I can't remember the name of the lake, but this was a band-aid that allowed them to limp along for a few decades.
A sea level canal would quickly make Panama a second rate passage and it would probably quickly fall into disrepair. (See Panama Railroad...)
Here's a map proposal from the 1890's showing the best and still most logical route:
Totally wreaking havoc on the Costa Rican border. The Ticos will not be happy, and they already have border disputes with Nicaragua.
To which Nicaragua will say, "Oh yeah, have many divisions do they have?", and the answer to that is none -- Costa Rica is proud of the fact that they have no standing army.
Except an army of Birkenstock-wearers who will lie in front of the bulldozers in protest.
Yep, a great and memorable read. What a nightmare the building of the Canal was!
This will be several billion dollars worth of ditch digging, who is putting up the money for this? China?
great idea...except remember what one of the nicknames is for illegals.."wetbacks"....make sure that when you build the wall you have alligators/sharks/pirahanas or lawyers in the water!!!!
I've got an article from about fifty years ago that proposed the same thing, using atomic explosions to go the heavy digging!!!
It's Madden Lake and it's allowed the canal to limp along for 71 years.
Any canal in Nicaragua will also be a lock canal because it will want to take advantage of Lake Nicaragua to shorten the length necessary to excavate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.