Posted on 10/01/2006 2:32:23 PM PDT by kellynla
A late 19th century idea has been resurrected to build a new canal in Nicaragua, at the same time Panama is planning to widen its own canal.
Nicaraguan officials say next week they will announce their $20 billion proposal to build a canal linking the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans that would accommodate ships too large to use the Panama Canal, according to the Los Angeles Times.
If it meets with the necessary approval by Nicaragua's Congress, the project would be a joint public-private venture financed by unnamed investors, Lindolfo Monjarretz, a spokesman for Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos, told the Times.
"We will have a deeper draft than the Panama Canal and reach a different market than Panama," Monjarretz told the Times. "The construction of the canal . . . will be pushed forward by Nicaragua because it's necessary for global trade."
That contention was disputed by Rodolfo Sabonge, a top official of the Panama Canal Authority, the quasi-independent body that has run the canal since the United States turned it over to Panama in 1999. Sabonge told the Times that there was insufficient ship traffic to support both a widened Panama Canal and a second canal in Nicaragua.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
The two proposed canal projects are not the only proposals in the works. According to the Times private investors are behind at least two other so-called dry-canal projects across Nicaragua and neighboring Honduras that would include new highway and rail links connecting expanded Pacific and Caribbean ports on either side of the isthmus.
Hmmmmm, Operation Plowshare?
Nope, doesn't work.
1. "Sabonge told the Times that there was insufficient ship traffic to support both a widened Panama Canal and a second canal in Nicaragua."
Yes, the sea-level in Nicaragua will be the only one used.
2. "project would be a joint public-private venture financed by unnamed investors..."
China... ?
1. "Sabonge told the Times that there was insufficient ship traffic to support both a widened Panama Canal and a second canal in Nicaragua."
Yes, the sea-level in Nicaragua will be the only one used.
2. "the project would be a joint public-private venture financed by unnamed investors..."
China... ?
China already controls the panama canel. Why would they be interested in a second one?
I'm all for honest competition. It sounds like the Panamanians think the Nicaraguans are stupid. People won't spend $20 billion on a losing proposition...
Maybe cheaper to build a new one that widen the old one? And/or maybe as a hedge if the Panamanians don't vote to pay for the widening?
It seems to me that a second canal would be good for the U.S. and would add an element of security as well.
Shutting down two canals would be at least a little harder than shutting down one, if some enemy were inclined to do so.
I agree. Never have liked having the Chicoms sitting on our back dock. LOL
$200 billion is more realistic.
"Maybe cheaper to build a new one that widen the old one? And/or maybe as a hedge if the Panamanians don't vote to pay for the widening?"
IMO this isn't the way China operates. If they wanted the canal widened they would pressure the Panamanians to do so. I'd suspect the US is behind this, at least I hope so.
No they don't. It is simply amazing to me that people actually believe that nonsense when all they have to do is read the Canal Treaty and the Neutrality agreement.
I suspect the Chicoms because they have the slave labour that would be required for such a task. This would be a three-fer for them...
1. Work five to ten million of their people to death thereby reducing their overpopulation of young men.
2. Would be able to achieve the construction without expensive heavy equipment.
3. Makes it more difficult for the US to shut down Atlantic-Pacific traffic.
Readjusting Tin Foil Hat.
NO2
They've been talking about this for 50 years. It was one of the excuses Jimmy Carter gave for giving the Panama Canal away. His argument was that it would be obsolete when the Nicaraguan canal was built.
I doubt that anyone would risk $20 billion in a country that teeters on the brink of anarchy as does Nicaragua.
Well, maybe the Democrats would.
How about a mile wide sea level canal along the border from San Diego to Brownsville?
In principle I agree, but the fact is that if the chicoms make their move (and they will - deep dark un-talked about open secret), they will disable any alternate route as part of their strategy - not too hard to do. We need to have enough resources on both sides of the canal ALL THE TIME to make the destruction of the canal a moot point. This may mean cutting down billions in pork programs and redirecting that money to duplicating resources but it is worth the expense.
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