Jericoacoara National Park is auctioned for R$ 61 million – 01/30/2024 – Environment

The Jericoacoara National Park, in Ceará, was granted to the private sector for R$61 million in an auction held on Friday (26) in São Paulo. The winner was Consórcio Dunas, with a fixed grant offer of R$61 million and a premium of 716.32%.

The group is formed by the company Cataratas, which already manages the Iguaçu Falls and Fernando de Noronha parks, and also by Construcap, in the civil construction sector.

Structured by BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development), the notice with the concession details was published in October 2023 by ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation), under questions from environmentalists and residents of the region. Jericoacoara is 370 km from the capital Fortaleza.

The concession guarantees free access to the park for people who are part of CadÚnico, after a request by the government of Ceará in 2023. The new concession contract establishes the maximum amount to be charged to the visitor, per day, ranging from R$50 at first year up to R$120 from the fifth year of the concession.

Entrance fees will only apply to visitors to the Jericoacoara National Park. Residents, visitors and workers in the region, children up to six years of age, students and teachers for environmental education activities, researchers, civil servants and public security agents in the exercise of their functions, tour guides or transport drivers will not have to pay the entrance fee. registered visitors.

Currently, visiting the park is free. Tourists in the region, however, pay the so-called Sustainable Tourism Tax, collected by the Jijoca de Jericoacoara City Council. Each visitor needs to pay R$41.50 to stay for up to ten days.

With the concession, tourists entering Jijoca de Jericoacoara will need, in addition to the municipal fee, to pay for entry into the park.

Infrastructure

According to the government of Ceará, investments of approximately R$116 million are expected in infrastructure in the park, in addition to the investment of R$990 million in operations and management over the course of the contract, which lasts 30 years.

The notice provides for a series of investments to be made at the beginning of the concession, such as improvements to operational buildings and leisure and transport infrastructure, as well as facilities in various areas of the park to welcome tourists.

The project also foresees investment in environmental research and the application of concession resources in surrounding cities, such as Camocim, Cruz and Jijoca de Jericoacoara, among other obligations.

With the new management, ICMBio will be the manager of the concession contract and monitor the actions of the private company, in addition to being responsible for monitoring the areas of conservation units. According to the notice, vegetation areas that are not accessed by users and visiting areas and trails will not be considered under the responsibility of the concessionaire.

In addition to the ticket collection structures, the new park will have parking lots, snack bars, restaurants and support points for visitors, including a free Wi-Fi network. The concessionaire will be responsible for services such as cleaning, security, road maintenance and fire brigade.

Social and environmental investments are also planned in the park and surrounding areas, totaling R$91 million over the course of the concession. These investments include education actions, research projects, species management, integration with the local community and support for mobility projects.

According to BNDES, the criteria for selecting the concessionaire involved the highest fixed grant value, which is the amount to be paid to the public authority. The second proposal, from Consórcio Nova Jericoacoara, offered a bid of R$25 million. The minimum value for the grant was R$7 million.

Winner of the bid, Consórcio Dunas will also have to apply socio-environmental responsibility resources in various actions in the park itself and in the surrounding area.

In December 2023, ICMBio and the government of Ceará signed a technical cooperation agreement for the integrated management of the Jericoacoara National Park, improving the initial proposal.

Located on the west coast of Ceará and with an area of ​​8,416 hectares (equivalent to more than 11,700 football fields), the Jericoacoara National Park has marine-coastal ecosystems with mangroves, restingas and dunes.

The park’s beaches are popular for sports such as kitesurfing and windsurfing. Visitors also visit dunes, mangroves and natural pools. In 2022, the park received more than 1.5 million people, having been the third most visited in the country in the period, according to data from ICMBio.

The recommendation is that the concessionaire prioritize companies in the region when defining food and transport service providers, for example. The winning company will not be able to implement internal road transport services that compete with those provided by park operators authorized by ICMBio.

This was the fourth attempt to transfer management of the park to the private sector. There have already been attempts to carry out the concession in 2014, under the Dilma government, in 2018, under the Temer government, and in 2022, under the Bolsonaro government.

In 2014, the project was canceled during the public consultation phase, after criticism from the population and environmentalists. In 2018, ICMBio held meetings with leaders in Jericoacoara, but the proposal did not move forward.

For researchers and activists who opposed the concession, tourism in the region needs to be cautious so as not to put the conservation of the site at risk.

In 2019, ICMBio requested the inclusion of the concession project in the Jericoacoara National Park in the federal government’s Partnership and Investment Program and, through a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Tourism, contracted, in 2021, the creation of new studies for the concession project with the assistance of BNDES. These studies culminated in the process that now led to the concession.