Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Chinese tycoon Wang Jing on Saturday said plans to start building a $40 billion canal across the Central American country were on track for late 2014.

Their remarks appeared aimed at shooting down any idea of a delay. Nicaragua’s Canal Authority chief Manuel Coronel Kautz recently was quoted as saying work would not start on the Nicaraguan waterway until 2015.

Feasibility studies are underway in Nicaragua. But it is not yet known how the future canal might be built in mechanical and logistical terms, if it gets a final green light.

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