NICARAGUA CANAL FACES HUGE COSTS

摘要

Transportation experts think Nicaragua's $50-billion-plus canal project may break ground but wonder if it will finish. An interocean link would have its merits-after all, more than 100 years ago, before planners chose the Panama Canal site, Nicaragua was considered as a possible route. Sending freight vessels this way would shave more than 500 miles off a trip from New York City to Los Angeles. But the exorbitant costs to dig the 173-mile route make for a tough business case. Even so, Hong Kong-based developer HKND Group plans to start construction in December.