After years of negotiations, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday signed a contract to build the world’s third largest hydroelectric dam on the Xingu River, a tributary of the Amazon.
The contract for the 11,000 MW Belo Monte Dam complex was awarded to the Norte Energia consortium.
The bidding process for the dam was legally interrupted three times, reported BBC, as the Brazilian Federal Public Prosecutors Office and human rights and environmental NGOs raised strong objections.
The dam reservoirs will flood 154 square miles and will permanently dry up a 62-mile section of the Xingu River leaving the indigenous communities along the banks without water transport and food provided by the river, according to International Rivers, an NGO based in Berkley, Calif.
The dams will be less efficient than projected, and will affect the lives of 50,000 people including 20,000 who will be relocated. The dam will also only generate 2,000 long-term jobs, according to Amazon Watch.
President Lula previously a critic of the dam, pronounced it a “victory for Brazil’s energy sector” at the signing ceremony Thursday.
The entire Belo Monte complex will consist of a main dam, two water diversion channels (over 1,600 feet wide and 46 miles long), a complementary reinforcement dam.
Plans for the dam date back more than two decades. Heavy protests stopped the initial plans for Belo Monte and five other dams, until 2009 when the Brazilian government announced it would license and auction the Belo Monte complex.
Critics fear that more dams will follow Belo Monte and say that the power needed for Brazil’s economic growth could be greatly reduced by investing in energy saving measures. A WWF report from 2007 said 40 percent could be saved by 2020 if energy is used more efficiently.
The contract for the 11,000 MW Belo Monte Dam complex was awarded to the Norte Energia consortium.
The bidding process for the dam was legally interrupted three times, reported BBC, as the Brazilian Federal Public Prosecutors Office and human rights and environmental NGOs raised strong objections.
The dam reservoirs will flood 154 square miles and will permanently dry up a 62-mile section of the Xingu River leaving the indigenous communities along the banks without water transport and food provided by the river, according to International Rivers, an NGO based in Berkley, Calif.
The dams will be less efficient than projected, and will affect the lives of 50,000 people including 20,000 who will be relocated. The dam will also only generate 2,000 long-term jobs, according to Amazon Watch.
President Lula previously a critic of the dam, pronounced it a “victory for Brazil’s energy sector” at the signing ceremony Thursday.
The entire Belo Monte complex will consist of a main dam, two water diversion channels (over 1,600 feet wide and 46 miles long), a complementary reinforcement dam.
Plans for the dam date back more than two decades. Heavy protests stopped the initial plans for Belo Monte and five other dams, until 2009 when the Brazilian government announced it would license and auction the Belo Monte complex.
Critics fear that more dams will follow Belo Monte and say that the power needed for Brazil’s economic growth could be greatly reduced by investing in energy saving measures. A WWF report from 2007 said 40 percent could be saved by 2020 if energy is used more efficiently.
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