MP asks Paraná to cancel endorsement for mega-work on the coast – 06/14/2023 – Environment

The Infrastructure Belt project, a mega-work on the coast of Paraná that has been tested since 2018, is the target of the MPF (Federal Public Prosecution Service) and the MP-PR (State Public Prosecutor’s Office), who have once again asked for the revocation of the prior license granted to the undertaking.

The plan is to install the strip in Pontal do Paraná, a city of 28,500 inhabitants located about 100 km from Curitiba. It consists of a set formed by a highway of almost 25 km in double carriageway, a drainage canal, an electric power transmission line, a gas pipeline and a railway branch.

The project foresees the suppression of 300 hectares of Atlantic forest and negative impact on indigenous communities, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Responsible for the project, the Ratinho Junior (PSD) management has not given any indication that it intends to give up on the work, although it does not give details about the progress of the project. Still rehearsed in the previous administration, by toucan Beto Richa, the work was embraced by the current administration, which claims that it can solve a traffic bottleneck for residents and tourists.

Among those benefiting from the strip is also a private port under construction in the region. Without the lane, Porto Pontal would only be supported by the PR-412, which is a single lane highway with frequent traffic jams during the summer season. The lane would run parallel to PR-412, also making the connection between PR-407 and Pontal do Paraná.

The work at Porto Pontal was led by the group of businessman João Carlos Ribeiro, who even ran for mayor of Pontal do Paraná by the PSC in 2020, but withdrew after being one of the targets of a Federal Police operation that investigates the release of environmental licenses by Ibama.

At the time, he denied having committed any wrongdoing. He stated that he would dedicate himself to his own defense and gave up the political dispute.

In January 2022, the port terminal work was purchased by Vinci Partners, an investment fund. Sought by the report, the company says that, at the moment, it does not comment on the controversies surrounding the construction of Porto Pontal.

Although Ibama granted the environmental license to the port work, the strip is an enterprise whose authorization was the responsibility of the IAT (Water and Land Institute), a state agency.

The prior license for the Infrastructure Strip was granted by the IAT in 2018 and, since then, the project has become the target of legal challenges, including a public civil action filed by the MPF in the Federal Court of Paraná. There is still no ending.

Meanwhile, recently, the MPF and Gaema, the Specialized Action Group on the Environment, Housing and Urbanism, linked to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, decided to make a new joint administrative recommendation to the IAT, asking for the revocation of the prior license.

The central argument of the document, signed by attorney Monique Cheker and prosecutor Dalva Marin Medeiros, is that traditional populations affected by the future project were ignored.

They consider it essential to carry out an anthropological study to verify “the real impact” of the strip and Porto Pontal on the territory of traditional coastal communities and warn that, if the administrative recommendation is not complied with, there will be legal measures.

The report asked for interviews with representatives of the IAT and the DER (Departamento de Estradas de Rodagem), which are the two state government agencies most active in the lane project. The government manifested itself, however, only through a note from Seil (Secretary of Infrastructure and Logistics).

The folder points out that “environmental constraints are under analysis” and “depend on complements in the physical, biotic and socioeconomic environments”.

It also states that the IAT analyzes the request for an installation license, “since there is no legal impediment to its continuity”, and that there is no forecast for the beginning of the works.

The administrative procedure for environmental licensing takes place in three stages, in order: the preliminary license, the installation license and, finally, the operating license.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}