Work on a huge project to rival the Panama Canal will begin in December with construction of a port on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, an official said Monday.

The 40 billion dollar project through Nicaragua linking the Caribbean and the Pacific has been assigned to a Chinese company, HK Nicaragua Development Co.

More than 1,000 specialists from several countries are carrying out environmental impact and other studies, said Telemaco Talavera, a presidential adviser on the canal project.

The firm is also carrying out a census of people and property in communities along the path of the planned waterway.