As the bidding process for the proposed Nicaraguan Canal gets underway, interesting connotations are bound to emerge. The $20 billion proposal linking the Atlantic & the Pacific would allow passage to ships with tonnage four times the current Panama Canal limit (65,000 tonnes). Even as the Panamanians vote for the expansion of their canal, little improvement is expected in this waterway that controls about 5% of global trade. With the estimated waterway cost almost 20 times of Nicaragua's national budget, and with the US being a more than condescending 'financer', there are interesting dimensions thereon. Nicaragua can now, at best, perhaps only hope not to be reduced to the state of another US colony.