by João Marcelo
SAO PAULO – In the middle of March, the minister of the STF (Superior Federal Court), Alexandre de Moraes, suspended the environmental licensing of the Ferrogrão railway after a preliminary injunction from the PSOL (Partido Socialismo e Liberdade). The minister accepted the argument that the route planned for the railway would cut through a protected forest area, in the Jamanxim National Park, in Pará, reducing its area and that it would also pass over indigenous lands.
The Ferrogrão project provides for 933 kilometers of tracks, with an estimated investment of R $ 12 billion, connecting the city of Sinop in Mato Grosso to Miritituba, on the banks of the Tapajós River, in Pará. The government has already declared that it intends to hold the auction at the end of this year. The announcement is being analyzed by the Federal Audit Court.
The execution of the project divides opinions, both by professionals in the field and economists, as well as by indigenous leaders and organizations that work in favor of the rights of the traditional peoples of Brazil. In an interview with Dire agency, the director of FGV Transportes (Center for Studies in Transport, Logistics and Urban Mobility of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation), Marcus Quintella evaluated that the railway construction project is of great impact for the country’s logistics, in view of that all production in the region that will be served by the railroad, today needs to be transported by trucks to the southeast and south of the country. “Certainly, it has a fantastic logistical characteristic for the country that will divide the logistical flows of the North arc and will continue to descend to Santos distributing the flow, as it should be done. Now its economic viability will depend on many factors, so it is not yet a very clear situation in terms of viability for the investor and it is up to the government to show society its socio-environmental viability ”, explained Quintella.