
Nicaragua started construction of a new $50 billion canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans on Monday, despite local concerns about environmental degradation, land grabs and related human rights abuses.
The 170-mile (280 k.m.) Grand Canal of Nicaragua, as it has been dubbed, will be wider and deeper than the storied Panama Canal, to which the new waterway intends to be a direct competitor.
“With this great canal, Nicaragua expects to move 5% of the world’s commerce that moves by sea, which will bring great economic benefits and double the GDP,” said Nicaragua’s Vice-President Omar Halleslevens, reports the BBC.
But while authorities in the impoverished Central American nation see the shipping route as key to future prosperity, critics say farmlands will be decimated and much of the cash earned will not trickle down to those most in need.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Inside Elon Musk’s War on Washington
- Introducing the 2025 Closers
- Colman Domingo Leads With Radical Love
- Why, Exactly, Is Alcohol So Bad for You?
- The Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise Harder
- 11 New Books to Read in February
- How to Get Better at Doing Things Alone
- Column: Trump’s Trans Military Ban Betrays Our Troops
Write to Charlie Campbell at charlie.campbell@time.com