Brazilian President Lula da Silva announced today an initial investment of 381.4 million reais (64.83 million euros) for the paving and restoration of a highway that cuts through the Amazon rainforest.
During an event today in Manaus, Lula da Silva reaffirmed his support for the project and assured that the works on the BR-319 highway will move forward, making it “environmentally, the most modern highway in the world.”
“Any foreigner who comes to give their opinion on the climate issue here, we are going to show them what we did,” Lula said.
The highway is the only land route between Manaus and Porto Velho, respectively the capitals of the states of Amazonas and Rondônia, and the federal government itself has recognized that its 889 kilometers (equivalent to the distance between Lisbon and Bilbao) cross one of the most sensitive regions of the Amazon.
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The paving and new works on the highway are supported by political and economic sectors but criticized by environmentalists due to their impacts on the Amazon rainforest.
Lula acknowledged today that the people of the country’s northern region have been debating and “fighting” for 40 years over the highway, which was built in 1970 with a “possibly flawed” project.
“They (the promoters) did not know the area and the road sank (…) In many places, the water took over. (…) The area is so delicate that there are places where we will have to elevate it by three meters to be able to build the road,” Lula exemplified.
In April, the non-profit organization Climate Observatory asked the courts to annul the federal government’s bidding notices to pave the highway, questioning the exemption from environmental licensing.
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The Climate Observatory told Lusa that the Lula government’s plan for BR-319 does not resolve the immediate risk of paving and that the asphalt works will cause immediate impacts without advancing a plan to protect the Amazon in the future.
Even so, for the entity’s Public Policy coordinator, Suely Araújo, the government’s recognition that it needs to plan and implement “socio-environmental safeguards for the region” is “a start.”
“Any plan for the region needs to be detailed, discussed with society, and formally filed for analysis, both in the lawsuit that has been underway since 2024 and in the environmental licensing process,” she stated.
However, she assessed that, as proposed, “the plan does not resolve the discussion regarding measures to address the impacts generated” by the paving of the so-called “middle section” of BR-319, a phase that is currently underway.
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According to Brazilian government estimates, the area of influence of BR-319 covers approximately 270,000 square kilometers, equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom.
According to the federal government, the area comprises 18 cities, “a territorial mosaic composed of 33% federal and state Conservation Units, 19% Indigenous Lands, 30% public land tracts, 10% federal settlements, and only 8% private areas.”
The forecast is that the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model will be finalized by 2028 and will last for 20 years, with an estimated value of 3.39 billion euros from the federal government during its execution.
