# Nicarguan canal to compliment the Panama canal.?



## rushie (Jul 5, 2005)

From the International Herald and Times - 

_Nicaragua on Monday lobbied for international support to build an ambitious US$18 billion (€14.2 billion) canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic, saying the region needs a second international waterway to handle the world's booming shipping business.

President Enrique Bolanos made his pitch to defense ministers meeting in Managua for the seventh Western Hemisphere's Defense Ministers Conference.

"The galloping increase in world business demands another canal in addition to a widened Panama Canal," Bolanos told the ministers from more than 30 countries.

Bolanos' proposal comes as Panama is set to vote Oct. 22 on whether to widen the Panama Canal, the biggest modification to the waterway since it opened in 1914. Panamanian officials have said the widening is vital to the Central American nation's future.

That US$5.3 billion (€4.2 billion) Panamanian project would add a third set of locks, reducing the long lines of ships waiting to cross the canal and allowing larger vessels to pass through.

Public opinion polls indicate the measure is likely to pass.

Nicaragua has been pushing for its own canal for nearly a century. Bolanos argued that his country's natural conditions, including its rivers and low-lying land, would allow for a canal to be built with relative ease and little investment.

If approved by the Nicaraguan Congress, Bolanos said the project, known as the Grand Inter-Oceanic Nicaragua Canal, could be built in 12 years and could handle ships too large for the Panama Canal.

Bolanos emphasized that a Nicaraguan canal would complement the Panama Canal and not compete against it._

Rushie


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