Fresh doubts have arisen over a Chinese billionaire’s plan to build a $50bn interoceanic canal through Nicaragua after it emerged that China’s stock market crisis wiped out nearly 85% of his fortune.
Wang Jing, the Chinese telecoms tycoon behind the gargantuan shipping project, has seen his net worth plummet since his country’s stock market meltdown began, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Until June, 42-year-old Wang was worth $10.2bn, making him one of the world’s 200 richest people, Bloomberg reported. His net worth has since slumped to $1.1bn.
Analysts said Wang’s dismal fortunes – Bloomberg called him the world’s worst performing billionaire in 2015 – could affect the ability of his company, HKND, to push ahead with construction of the 178-mile canal in Nicaragua.
Daniel Wagner, the head of US-based consultancy Country Risk Solutions, told Bloomberg: “The turn of fortune in … Wang’s financial resources will impact how and whether the canal can and will be built. I would expect, given this year’s financial gyrations in China, that the government is also asking itself whether the canal is a viable proposition.”
Officials at HKND – which won a 50-year concession to build and operate the canal in 2013 – denied the billionaire’s financial woes spelled trouble for the mega-project.
Bill Wild, HKND’s chief project adviser for the canal, said: “I have no doubt that appropriate financial arrangements will be in place before construction commences.”
Nicaraguan authorities last week said they had postponed the start of canal construction work until at least early 2016 because of environmental concerns.
Speaking to China’s official news agency, Xinhua, last month, HKND’s vice-president, Peng Guowei, said the project was “progressing in an orderly manner”.
Peng said his company hoped to complete the project within five years and said that by the end of August, HKND had invested more than 3bn yuan (£311m), all of which came from Wang’s “own pocket”.
News of Wang’s financial troubles will bring some hope to environmentalists, who have warned that the canal could inflict massive damage on rainforests and wetlands, and force indigenous communities from their lands.
Speaking at a canal groundbreaking ceremony in Nicaragua last December, Wang Jing instructed Chinese companies working on the project not to “destroy or damage” their host country.
“We can demonstrate to the world that we are builders, not destroyers [and that] what we bring is wealth and dignity,” he said, according to a transcript of his speech on HKND’s website.
Wang said the canal – which would be three times longer than its rival in Panama – would “change the pattern of global maritime trade”.
“I am confident that we will succeed, and that victory will belong to us,” said Wang, who has denied rumours that he enjoys close ties to China’s Communist party.
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