Alert on environmental hazards by inter-oceanic canal in Nicaragua
Nicaraguan environmentalists expressed the if the inter-oceanic canal is built, which was approved by Congress last Thursday, this will cause an ecological disaster, which will put at risk the drinking water supply and destroy numerous ecosystems in the country.
The Congress of Nicaragua, which is controlled by the governing Sandinista Front of the former guerrilla man, President Daniel Ortega, gave the green light for the construction of this canal, which will compete with Panama, under a budget that doubles the gross domestic product.
Victor Campos, Assistant Director of the environmentalist NGO Humboldt Center, stated that the project goes accross the Lake of Nicaragua and that puts at risk the basin that supplies water to most of the population, since a channel of this type need plenty of fluids to operate.
The construction of the canal was given to the unknown company HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co. (HKDN), which was founded 10 months ago in Hong Kong by lawyer Wang Jing.
Conservationists warn that the inter-oceanic canal has four possible routes and all of them would have to pass through the Lake of Nicaragua and diverse ecosystems that are in danger of disappearing.