Work in Ilhabela stream without bidding generates impasse – 04/04/2023 – Environment

A work to desilt a stream in Ilhabela, on the coast of São Paulo, generated an impasse. The city hall hired a company to carry out the dredging without bidding, but the Public Prosecutor’s Office called the Justice and demands that the service be started only with authorization from the environmental agencies.

The contract, worth BRL 13.5 million, was signed based on state decree No. 67,502, of February 19, 2023, which established a state of public calamity in the municipality due to heavy rains during the Carnival period.

Mayor Toninho Colucci (PL) denies having taken advantage of the document to hire the company without bidding and says that the work is necessary.

Dredging was planned for the Água Branca stream, also known as the Paquera river, the largest river in Ilhabela, which crosses the state park and flows into Barra Velha beach. The administration says that its bed is silted up and that, in the event of a storm, there could be flooding.

The city hall did not contact Cetesb (Environmental Company of the State of São Paulo), according to the state-owned company. The mayor claims that a consultation was made with the Daee (Department of Water and Electric Energy), which would not have issued a license, but, according to him, did not oppose the work.

When contacted, Daee says that on March 9, the city made a consultation on emergency works in the stream, accompanied by a report from the Civil Defense.

The following day, the state body granted the city hall’s request, emphasizing, however, that the responsibility for the services to be performed, as well as the disposal of the removed material, rests with the body that requests the execution, observing the environmental legislation on the subject. .

Upon becoming aware of the contract, the Public Prosecutor’s Office took the case to court. Prosecutor Tadeu Salgado Badaró Junior, from Gaema (Special Action Group for the Defense of the Environment), filed a lawsuit demanding that the work only be released after authorization from Cetesb and Daee.

According to the prosecutor, there is a lawsuit filed in January 2020 with a preliminary injunction — therefore, even before the tragedy recorded this year — for the municipality to refrain from carrying out actions to desilt the Água Branca stream without prior approval from environmental agencies.

According to Cetesb, only with authorization can the city hall intervene in the stream, as it is an APP (Permanent Preservation Area).

Impact on mangroves and marine life

Opposed to the work, residents and environmentalists of Ilhabela appealed to the Public Prosecutor’s Office on the last 23rd to try to prevent the beginning of the work.

According to lawyer and environmentalist Gysele Bastos, in addition to the lack of a license, the work could endanger the ecosystem of the stream, which is part of the marine APP on the north coast, which maintains areas of mangroves and marshes. The fear is that the mangrove will be affected by the movement of equipment to remove mud.

“There was no consultation with the Municipal Council for the Environment, as required by law”, says Bastos.

A resident of Ilhabela, Gilda Nunes, an environmentalist who works at IIS (Sustainable Ilhabela Institute), is also against dredging.

“The city hall has wanted to do this work for years, without licensing or bidding, but it is a marine environmental protection area and must be preserved for its environmental importance. It is a true oasis within the city.”

Residents also questioned the reason for the work to the TCE (State Court of Auditors) of São Paulo, with the request for revision of the bidding contract.

The bid was made with the company DP Barros Pavimentação e Construção Ltda. Marcelo Oliveira, director of the company, says that the equipment and personnel have already been hired, but that he is waiting for the order to start the service by the city hall.

Dredging, according to him, should take between three and six months, without risking the environment. “The equipment will work on a raft, on the riverbed, and not on the banks.”

The company has 11 years of experience in this type of service, according to Oliveira, working in the dredging of the Pinheiros and Tietê rivers. The director also states that licensing and authorization issues must be resolved by the city hall.

Mayor Toninho Colucci says the work is necessary. “It rained and a lot of material was carried to the river bed, which in some stretches is half a meter high. If the rains return with intensity, it could cause flooding and even deaths.”

Colucci states that, “if it depends on licensing, it will be a huge via crucis”. “The law allows me this possibility because it is an emergency work. We are not going to cause environmental damage, we are just going to disturb the river bed, desilting it so that it can receive a greater volume of water during the rainy season.”

“I understand that I can hire and carry out the emergency work, but, if the Public Ministry understands otherwise, I will stop everything and invest the resources in paving works. The population will be happier”, says Colucci.