Amazon Ghost Highway to Be Brought Back to Life

BR-319, a road blazed 35 years ago through the heart of the Amazon jungle and now impassable due to neglect, has sparked a new battle between environmentalists and the Brazilian property authorities, who have decided to rebuild it.

Officials defend economic integration in the central Amazon and in the south central part of Brazil, that will bring benefits to the local population. But environmentalists say reparations roads lead to further deforestation and new waves of migration towards the northern city of Manaos, which is already suffering from a serious urban problems and conflicts due to the increase in the surrounding lands.

The dispute was caused by the proposal to replace the highway to the railroad, which cost-effectiveness studies had been carried out and that will mean much less deforestation, according to Virgilio Viana, which outlines alternative as secretary of the environment and sustainable development in the northwestern state of Amazonas , a post he resigned March 3, the head of the Fund's sustainable Amazon.

In 885 - km road Porto Velho, capital of Rondonia state on the border with Bolivia, from Manaos, capital of Amazonas, the Brazilian property state with the most vast stretches of virgin jungle.

The restoration of road and should be completed by 2011, said the Ministry of Transport, whose chief, Alfredo Nascimento, Manaos was mayor from 1997 to 2004. The estimated cost is 700 million reals (about $ 400 million).

Railroad, in contrast, would cost three times as much, but would avoid the emission of gases responsible for climate change by reducing deforestation, which would allow Brazil property to receive abundant carbon credits on the international market, Viana told Tierramérica.
In deforestation projected as a result of rebuilt highway reaches 168000 square kilometers by 2050, an area comparable to the size of neighboring Uruguay, according to the study, the Brazilian team led by Britaldo Soares of the Federal University of Minas Gerais.