Nicaragua commission gives go-ahead for canal project

The Nicaraguan government's canal commission formally approved an environmental impact study Thursday that opens the way for a Chinese company's $50 billion inter-ocean project to move ahead. Canal commission representative Manuel Coronel Kautz said the commission's decision authorizes China's HKND Company to start structural and construction design work. Authorities have already approved the proposed 172-mile route for the Nicaragua canal, a mega-project — widely reported as the world’s largest civil engineering enterprise — that has outraged farmers, indigenous communitiesand citizens around the country. The canal, scheduled for completion in December 2019, will cut across the middle of the country and bisect Lake Nicaragua, known locally as Lake Colcibolca — the second-largest lake in Latin America and the largest drinking-water reservoir in the region. The canal will also cut through the Cerro Silva Nature Reserve.

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