Nicaragua Canal Agreement Signed By President Daniel Ortega And China's Wang Jing

Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, left, speak as Chinese businessman Wang Jing looks on during a ceremony for the signing of a concession agreement for the construction of a multibillion-dollar canal at the Casa de los Pueblos in Managua, Nicaragua, Friday, June 14, 2013. In a matter of weeks, Wang Jing has hired some of the world's top experts in mammoth infrastructure projects and pushed through Nicaragua's congress a bill granting him the exclusive right to develop a multibillion-dollar ri

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- President Daniel Ortega and Chinese businessman Wang Jing have signed an agreement giving his company the right to build a shipping channel across Nicaragua that would compete with the Panama Canal.

The signing took place a day after Nicaragua's National Assembly voted to grant Hong Kong-based HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co. a 50-year concession to study, then possibly build and run, the canal.

Ortega's backers say the project would transform one of the region's poorest countries by bringing tens of thousands of jobs to the country and fueling an economic boom that would mimic the prosperity of nearby Panama and its U.S.-built canal.

Critics say the proposal, which was given fast-track approval, contains no specific route for the canal and virtually no details of its financing or economic viability.