Nicaragua and China sign agreement on Bluefields deepwater port

Nicaragua’s government and China CAMC Engineering signed an agreement to build the Bluefields deepwater port on the Atlantic coast, which has been planned for years and will potentially become part of an interoceanic canal project that also includes Corinto port on the Pacific.

The agreement was one of several signed during the China-Latin America and Caribbean business summit in Managua, which brought together 250 Chinese businesspeople and 70 representatives from countries in the region.

National ports company EPN presented the first plans for the Bluefields port a decade ago and a contract to conduct the prefeasibility studies was signed with Dutch engineering consulting firm Arcadis Nederland in 2018.

The studies were expected to conclude by the end of 2020 and construction to start shortly after, but progress was stymied due to a lack of funds.

News outlet Confidencial reported that President Daniel Ortega presented the interoceanic canal during the summit, including Bluefields.

The 445km canal is planned to be 290-540m wide and 27m deep.

"There should be an alternative [to the Panama canal] and we have it here in Nicaragua, which I am presenting. The [feasibility] studies have been carried out for a while now," Ortega was quoted as saying. “Even North American investors are interested,” he said.  

The agreements signed at the summit will give the country “the opportunity to advance towards development, creating jobs, generating prosperity and eradicating poverty,” Laureano Ortega Murillo, presidential adviser on investment, trade and international cooperation, was quoted as saying by Infobae.

Other agreements

Nicaragua's transport and infrastructure ministry (MTI) and Chinese communications company CCSI signed an agreement to design and implement a smart logistics center with assistance from EPN.

The MTI and logistics company YTO Express agreed to design and implement a logistics center to serve Central America.

The energy and mines ministry and China’s CCCC signed an agreement to build the El Barrio wind park.

And an agreement between the institute for social security (INSS) and pharmaceutical company Sinopharm includes the design and construction of a regional production and distribution center.