Nicaragua wants to move forward with Bluefields deepwater port

The Nicaraguan government will attempt to advance a US$600mn project to build a deepwater port in Bluefields on the Caribbean coast. 

The announcement was made by the director of the department of investment and exports promotion of the presidency (SPIEX), Karina Mejía, during a visit to Tianjin port in China, according to local media.

Government news platform El 19 digital portrayed the project as new although in 2018 a contract was signed with Dutch engineering consulting firm Arcadis Nederland to carry out the prefeasibility studies.

According to information published by the municipality Bluefields last August, the project was still in the prefeasibility stage and economic, financial, technical, environmental and social studies were being carried out. 

Mejía did not offer more details and did not say if China will have direct participation in the project. 

The port would be part of a new road corridor linking Nicaragua's Pacific and south Caribbean coasts and would also reduce the dependence of the country's Caribbean coast trade on Honduras' Cortés port and Limón in Costa Rica.

The project was first announced last decade by national ports company EPN and was initially expected to have all its feasibility studies completed by the end of 2020. However, funds required to advance to a further stage were not secured.