Infrastructure

Nicaragua has been constantly working to improve the country’s infrastructure in order to lay the necessary ground work to promote faster economic growth and facilitate the attraction of foreign investment.

Energy

Nicaragua’s energy sector has been developing with great momentum in the last five years with important public and private investments nationwide.

The result of these efforts has been a significant improvement in the coverage of electrical services to the population, much of which was neglected before. Moreover, there has been an increase in installed capacity, which is able to supply domestic demand and will allow energy exports in the future via the Electrical Interconnection System for Central America project (SIEPAC, for its acronym in Spanish).

In 2014, renewable sources constitute 53 percent of the matrix, whereas in 2007 it only constituted 36 percent. By 2017, the goal of the Government of Nicaragua is that the matrix be composed of 79 percent from renewable sources.

Road Network

According to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, the national road network consists of 24,033 km divides into the following categories:

In addition, Nicaragua is part of the Pan-American Highway, which consists of 382 km that link the country with Honduras in the north and Costa Rica in the south.

Ports

Aquatic

The National Port Company (EPN, for its acronym in Spanish) is the Nicaraguan entity that regulates the country’s port sector and its mission is to provide high quality services through the ports of Nicaragua in an efficient and responsible manner to businesses and organizations that require these services, by guaranteeing the proper handling and care of their interests.

The Port of Corinto, located in northwest Nicaragua, is the country’s main port and handles most of the commercial freight both for export and import. The country also has other ports in different parts of the country used to transport cargo and tourists:

Some of the main maritime freight companies located in Nicaragua are:

• Maruba
• China Shipping
• CMA CGM
• Maersk
• APL
• NYK Logistics

Aerial

Nicaragua has one international airport located in the capital city of Managua. The country also has three national airports located in Bluefields, Puerto Cabezas and Corn Island and rural airports in Nueva Guinea, San Carlos, Siuna, Waspan, Rosita and Bonanza.

The Augusto C. Sandino International Airport was ranked as one of the safest in Latin America and serves as a connection to 15 international destinations every day. The airport serves the following international airlines: American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Copa, Taca, Aeromexico and Nature Air.

Additionally, the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport has a cargo terminal from where airlines offer service load and unload operators. The cargo airlines are in charge of freight handling to and from North, Central and South America and Europe and they own warehouses to store the load they carry. The air cargo service is provided by:

• American Airlines Cargo
• Copa Airlines Cargo
• Avianca Cargo
• UPS Air Cargo
• Arrow Air

Nicaragua has a national airline called La Costeña, with daily flights to the cities of Tegucigalpa, Corn Island, Siuna, Puerto Cabezas, Bluefields, Bonanza, Rosita, Waspan and San Carlos. It also carries out charter flights and cargo.

Customs Posts

Nicaragua has a series of customs offices throughout the national territory, both land and sea, which include the following:

Telecommunications

The telecommunications sector is fully privatized in Nicaragua and is considered one of the most modern in Central America. The telecommunications regulator entity is the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Post (TELCOR, for its acronym in Spanish).

Nicaragua offers redundant high quality optic fiber connections through three international submarine cable systems (ARCOS-1, MAYA-1, Emergia).

Some of the main providers of telecommunications in Nicaragua include Tigo Business, Claro, IBW, Ideay, Telefónica and Yota, among others.

The following services are available in Nicaragua:

• Internet: Fractional to full DS3 Service.
• Voice Connection: Analog or digital lines.
• 4G: WiMAX technology over fiber optic and wireless (microwave) for Internet and mobile phones.

Additionally, the most recognized brands in technology are available through authorized dealers, some of them are: HP, Dell, IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, Avaya and Nortel.