Doubts over a planned $50bn waterway across Nicaragua that aims to compete with the Panama Canal are set to intensify after the Chinese-led project was postponed by up to a year.

Since its inception the project to build a second canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans has met fierce criticism over its potential ecological impact as well as scepticism over its viability. The doubts have mounted in recent months amid concerns that Hong Kong Nicaragua Development Group, the company building the canal, was in financial trouble after China’s stock market rout led to a plunge in owner Wang Jing’s wealth.

Mr Wang has yet to spell out who else is investing in the project, which he has hailed as part of the Beijing-driven “21st-century maritime silk road” initiative.