The article doesn’t mention why this waterway is necessary. Can someone local or with expertise weigh in with why this waterway is so important? Something else

The article doesn’t mention why this waterway is necessary. Can someone local or with expertise weigh in with why this waterway is so important? Something else that is not mentioned in corruption. Surely anything which would so endanger the public would come under massive public scrutiny, yet this seems to be moving forward with little, local outcry.