The reconstruction of Brazil’s BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) highway (Figure 1) and its associated hidden projects are not yet a fait accompli, but the danger has reached a critical moment. In November 2023, the President Lula created a BR-319 working group (GT) organized by the National Department of Highways (DNIT) to consider what measures can be adopted to make the reconstruction of BR-319 environmentally sustainable. In December, the project was added to the Amazon Regional Development Plan (PRDA) for 2024-2027, and the Chamber of Deputies promoted a Bill to “urgent” status to fast-track a measure that would force the licensing agency (IBAMA) to approve the BR-319 reconstruction project and the mandate the federal government to finance it. The interest groups involved have more than enough votes to approve this: as of February 2024 the Agriculture and Ranching Parliamentary Front (FPA) alone controls 324 of 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (63%) and 50 of 81 seats in the Senate (62%). In January 2024, the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Transport assured the BR-319 GT that it is President Lula’s commitment to rebuild BR-319. The final report of the BR-319 GT is scheduled for February 2024, and should be released in the next few days. In his speech to the GT-BR-319, the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation stated that the objective of the GT report is to identify “the ways to resolve environmental licensing,” in other words, to justify the approval of the installation license for the BR-319…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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