Brazilian government to invest US$ 6.7 billion in slope containment and drainage

Half the budget already available for cities tabling projects

The Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) in Brazil is to put US$ 6.7 billion into the construction of slope containment and floodwater drainage projects, the Minister of Planning, Budget and Management, Miriam Belchior, announced on Thursday (20/1) at a news conference following the first meeting of the Infrastructure Forum, opened by President Dilma Rousseff, at the Palacio do Planalto, in Brasilia.

The minister said that about US$ 5.9 billion will be earmarked for drainage and US$ 600 million for slope containment, with half of these funds now available for release to municipalities that have put forward appropriate projects. In the case of slope containment, the federal government has committed US$ 300 million to 99 Brazilian cities in the most pressing situations.

Many cities have already tabled projects. The Minister urged other mayors to make the issue a priority so that the projects can be carried out during the dry season, so preventing further disasters, like those that have recently struck the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, from being repeated next summer. "We will act first where the problems are most serious," said Belchior.

The Minister reaffirmed the federal government's commitment to investing in disaster prevention and said that the PAC was precisely for such a purpose. She also said that people who live in areas that are at risk will be moved, but that the housing program "My House, My Life" will help these people, who will be housed in safe locations.

The Infrastructure Forum, coordinated by the Ministry of Planning, is one of four thematic forums on government management set up by President Dilma Rousseff - the others are Combating Poverty, coordinated by the Ministry of Social Development; Combating Hunger, led by the Ministry of Finance, and Access to Citizenship, managed by the Secretary-General to the Presidency of the Republic.