Making money canals

[Borys]

Ahoj!
After doing some rough sums, I have come to the conclusion that in N-verse terms the Darien (OTL Panama) canal cost 800$ and a better not to disclose number of BPs.

I asked around and it seems that the Panama canal paid back its construction cost somewhere in the 1990s. 80 years from completion.

If that is correct - having three canals, and assuming that each gets one third of OTL traffic, the Darien canal will start bringing profits to the GC Government in 2246.

Borys

[The Rock Doctor]

That probably goes a long way towards explaining why we only have one canal.

Spread over the time of construction, the cost isn't actually unbearable for Gran Colombia - it merely comes at the expense of expanding the economy or doing much work on the Armada, for instance.  More or less how I expected things to go.  Did you actually get a BP estimate?  That I'd like to see, even if it is frightening.

Anyway, some future generation of Alizandro will be delighted to get his first cheque in 2246.

[Borys]

Ahoj!
I'm trying to track down the actual amount of steel used. With the American fetish for numbers, I'm sure it must be out there somewhere. As to my BP estimate - I initialy thought about 800 BP, i.e. roughly 35 battleships. Seems too high, so I'm loking for the actual number.

ADDED LATER:
200 miles of stadard gauge rail track. 160 locomotives. 2300 rail cars. That's for starters.
The locomotives are 7,5 BP.
Borys

[P3D]

320km - 8BP.
2500 rolling stock - 7.5BP
Locks, etc - another 4.5BP?
Total 20BP

IMO the BP cost is not too high, it still costs as much as a battleship.
And for the GC national economy as a whole the Canal would bring its price back much earlier.