Koreans, Brazilians Eye Investment at Monkey Point

MANAGUA – Virgilio Silva, executive president of the National Port Authority (EPN), announced this week that a group of Korean businessmen will soon be visiting Nicaragua to look into investment opportunities in a deep-water port at Monkey Point, in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS).

Silva said that the Koreans are part of a group of 160 businesses that operate ports, and “we are going to see if we can formalize the dream of the EPN and the desire of President Daniel Ortega to construct a deep-water port in the southern Atlantic.”

Silva said the investment would be $350 million for the port. A group of Brazilians and the Iranians have also expressed interest in investing in the port in the past.

Silva also said that Nicaragua will be trying to sell the port idea during an April 15 summit of port operators in Brazil, and that the government is already trying to generate interest in the Monkey Point port idea on the Internet and in industry magazines.

He stressed the importance of the project for Nicaragua because, “We are missing out on $150 million a year [in trade] because the majority of local cargo is shipped out of Puerto Cortes in Honduras and Puerto Limón, in Costa Rica.”

The Central American Commission of Maritime Transport (COCATRAM) has also offered to support Nicaragua in building the port at Monkey Point. COCATRAM already has experience in these types of projects in Chile and Perú.