Nicaragua walks back cross-country canal concession to Chinese investor

Nicaragua's congress, controlled by President Daniel Ortega, on Wednesday repealed a law which had given a little-known Chinese investor a concession of up to 100 years to build and operate a canal between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Nicaragua's congress, controlled by President Daniel Ortega, on Wednesday repealed a law which had given a little-known Chinese investor a concession of up to 100 years to build and operate a canal between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The law, passed in 2012 with the Ortega government's backing, was touted at the time as a project which would lift the Central American nation out of poverty.

The canal was initially planned to have been built by 2019, but construction never began as Chinese entrepreneur Wang Jing, who headed the project, saw his net worth collapse when China's stock market crashed. Wang's wealth peaked at $6.9 billion in 2015, but slid to $1.9 billion the following year, then fell under $1 billion in 2019, according to Forbes' "Rich List."

The canal project, with an estimated cost of some $50 billion, also faced fierce opposition from farmers and environmentalists. "It's a shame that Ortega realizes his own failure a decade later, after making arrangements to confiscate land from peasant farmers," said Medardo Mairena, the leader of a canal opposition group, who is in exile in the United States.

Ortega sent the proposed repeal to congress early Wednesday and it was nearly unanimously approved. Nicaragua's canal had been pitched as a competitior to the nearby Panama Canal, which itself has seen crossings limited in recent months due to drought that lowered water levels on the 50-mile (80-km) waterway.

While stripping the concession from the Chinese investor, the repeal leaves in place a law calling for the canal to be built, although it's unclear who would finance such a project.

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