It is one of the largest proposed infrastructure projects in the world. The feasibility study alone is set to cost $900m. And when complete, the Nicaragua Canal should lower transport costs for shipping oil from Latin America to China.
尼加拉瓜运河(Nicaragua Canal)是全球最大的拟议基础设施项目之一。单是可行性研究就将耗资9亿美元。这条运河竣工后将可降低从拉美向中国运输石油的成本。The $40bn project certainly does not lack for ambition. Neither, it seems, does Wang Jing, the public face of the newly-registered Hong Kong company, HKND Group, which this month won approval from Nicaragua’s Congress to build and operate the 50-year concession to link the country’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
这项400亿美元的工程绝不缺少雄心壮志，新成立的香港尼加拉瓜运河开发投资公司（NKDN，简称香尼集团）的公众面孔王靖似乎也雄心勃勃。本月，香尼集团获得尼加拉瓜国民议会的许可，赢得了建造并运营这条将连接大西洋与太平洋的运河的特许权，有效期为50年。The approval came despite environmentalist opposition and widespread scepticism about the economic viability of the proposed interoceanic canal. It has also raised questions about the role of the Chinese state in the project.
尽管这项跨洋运河计划遭到环保人士反对，经济可行性也广遭质疑，但仍得到批准。此事还让人质疑中国政府在这个项目中的作用。
As the low-key investor steps into the global limelight, Mr Wang denies any association with the Chinese authorities. “I’m actually not a [Communist] party member,” he told the Financial Times with a quick laugh.
这位原本低调的投资者已成为全球瞩目的焦点，但王靖否认他与中国政府有任何关系。他告诉英国《金融时报》：“我其实不是（共产）党员。”说这话时，他脸上的笑容一闪而过。“This is an entirely private business undertaking, and there is no link to the Chinese government,” he says, sitting in his meeting room under a larger-than-life painting of Mao Zedong, the man who led China’s communist revolution.
他表示：“这完全是企业自主行为，与中国政府没有任何关联。”王靖坐在会议室里，他的上方挂着领导中国共产主义革命的毛泽东的大幅画像。A floor-to-ceiling red board next to the entrance of his company Xinwei Telecom carries the Chinese Communist party’s oath in shiny golden characters.
在他的企业信威通信(Xinwei Telecom)入口处，竖着一块高及天花板的红色标牌，上面用烫金大字印着中共的誓词。Mr Wang acquired a 40 per cent stake in Xinwei in 2009 from Datang, the company’s state-owned parent. People close to Xinwei say they believe Mr Wang enjoys the backing of senior Communist party leaders, but do not know the exact nature of his links.
2009年，王靖从信威的国有母公司大唐电信手中收购了信威40%的股份。熟悉信威的人士透露，他们认为王靖得到中共高级领导人的支持，但说不清这种关系的确切性质。Asked about the omnipresent references to state and party at the Xinwei offices, the 40-year-old Chinese businessman says he uses the party oath and other propaganda displayed on the company premises to motivate and inspire his staff.
当被问及信威办公室中四处可见的有关政府和党的标语时，这位40岁的中国商人表示，他用中共誓词以及公司大楼内展示的其他宣传标语来激励、鼓舞员工。“We need something that holds everyone together. Paying your staff well will go a long way but it is not enough. People need a sense of accomplishment, a source of satisfaction, ” Mr Wang explains his management philosophy. “I want them to ardently love the motherland and every other human being, to be good citizens.”
王靖这样解释他的管理哲学：“我们需要某种东西把大家团结起来。付给员工高薪是长久之计，但还不够。人们需要成就感，从中得到满足。我想要他们热爱自己的祖国，热爱每一个人，成为好公民。”Mr Wang says he will apply the same ideals to the Nicaragua Canal too, and claims that he will pick co-investors and other partners in the project depending on whether they share his values.
王靖表示，他会把同样的理想用在修建尼加拉瓜运河上。他说，他将以是否志同道合为标准来挑选项目的共同投资者以及合作伙伴。“Just meeting legal standards is not enough,” he says. “I don’t want you to protect the environment because the law forces you to do so; I want you to do it because you wish to do so in your heart.”
他表示：“仅仅符合法律规范还不够。我不希望你是因为法律才不得已采取措施保护环境，我想要你从内心深处自发去做。”Mr Wang has raised extremely high expectations for the commercial returns of the project, which he has forecast could earn annual revenues of $5.5bn when at full capacity. By comparison, the Panama Canal, which is undergoing a $5bn expansion, earned $1.6bn in pre-tax profit last year on revenues of $2.4bn.
王靖对运河项目的商业收益抱有极高期望。他预测，尼加拉瓜运河全线通航后，年收入将达55亿美元。相比之下，巴拿马运河(Panama Canal)去年实现营收24亿美元，税前盈利16亿美元。目前巴拿马运河正在进行扩建，相关投资50亿美元。Such putative returns from a project in a country that is subinvestment-grade, combined with the engineering difficulties of a canal that will be three times longer than the 48-mile Panama transit, has made many sceptical about Mr Wang’s plans.
然而，尼加拉瓜只是一个次投资级的国家，而且拟建运河将比48英里长的巴拿马运河长3倍，施工难度也很大，对这样一个项目所做的上述收益推测，使许多人对王靖的计划产生疑虑。Nonetheless, he has assembled an impressive roster of potential partners, including China Railway Construction, which has extensive experience in global civil engineering projects, plus the country’s state-owned oil groups, which have an interest in lowering transport costs of oil and coal from Latin America.
不过，王靖已经汇聚起了一批名头响亮的潜在合作伙伴，包括在全球拥有丰富工程建设经验的中国铁建(China Railway Construction)，以及对降低从拉美运输石油煤炭成本感兴趣的中国国有石油集团。He also pledges to involve financial institutions from around the world.
王靖还承诺要吸引全球各地的金融机构参与进来。Right now, 4,000 people including staff from McKinsey, the British environmental consultancy ERC, the US law firm Kirkland, and research institutes belonging to CRC are working on the feasibility study. Mr Wang says HKND could cover the operational cost before the start of construction, scheduled for late 2014, with its own funds. The Nicaraguan government has said it estimates the project could increase growth of the country’s $10bn economy by 15 per cent a year.
眼下，4000名来自麦肯锡(McKinsey)、英国环境咨询公司ERC、美国律所Kirkland以及中国铁建下属研究所等多家机构的人士正在开展项目可行性研究。王靖表示，香尼集团在项目开工之前，自身资金已经足够承担运营成本。该项目计划于2014年年底开工。尼加拉瓜政府估计，运河项目将使该国目前为100亿美元的经济总量每年增加15%。Historical experience, however, weighs against the plan’s success. A canal across Nicaragua, linking its natural lakes, came close to being built in the early 20th century, before the US decided to concentrate on Panama. In 2006, Enrique Bolaños, then president of Nicaragua, also sought to revive the plan when the Panama Canal was close to capacity.
不过，从历史经验来看，该计划成功几率并不大。20世纪初，一条计划穿越尼加拉瓜、连接该国境内天然湖泊的运河接近开工建设，但随后美国决定集中运营巴拿马运河。2006年，巴拿马运河运力几近饱和，时任尼加拉瓜总统恩里克•博拉尼奥斯(Enrique Bolaños)也曾寻求恢复修筑运河的计划。Mr Wang is fully aware that many view his plans for a canal as a strategic move by Beijing to boost its geopolitical clout in the US’s backyard. Xi Jinping, the Chinese premier, visited the region in June, with stops in Trinidad, Costa Rica and Mexico before meeting Barack Obama, US president, in California.
今年6月，中国国家主席习近平访问了拉美地区，分别在特立尼达、哥斯达黎加、墨西哥逗留，随后前往加州与美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)会面。在很多人看来，尼加拉瓜运河计划是中国政府为了在美国后花园扩大中国影响力而采取的战略性举措，对此王靖是心知肚明的。“People may associate [the project] with politics and with competition among governments because the scale of this project is quite large and its impact will be big,” Mr Wang says. “But that is not true. Business is business.”
王靖说：“人们可能把（这个项目）与政治、与各国政府之间的竞争联系在一起，因为这个项目规模大，影响深远。但其实不然。在商言商。”