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Protest sign in the Amazon rainforest - Source: Reuters
Brazil approved an environmental permit for a hydroelectric dam
in the Amazon, an official said, advancing a project the government
hopes will shore up power supplies but critics call an ecological
disaster.
The environmental agency Ibama granted a consortium including the
French utilities giant Suez the license to build the Jirau dam on
the Madeira River, an Ibama spokesman said.
The Jirau project and the nearby Santo Antonio dam are part of a
plan to dam one of the Amazon river's biggest tributaries to ensure
Brazil's economy will have sufficient energy supplies over the next
decade.
The two dams, which together form the $20 billion, 6,450 megawatt
Madeira River Hydroelectric Complex, will also create a waterway
that would reduce shipping costs for Brazil's agriculture
exports.
Environmentalists say the dam could dramatically change the nearby
ecosystem by flooding hundreds of thousands of hectares, and they
insist the government has not provided enough safeguards to prevent
ecological damage.
A dispute between Suez and Brazilian construction company Odebrecht
over the location of Jirau threatened to spark lawsuits that would
have delayed the project, but the companies later agreed to settle
out of court.
Suez is the lead partner in a consortium developing Jirau that also
includes Brazilian state companies Eletrosul, Chesf and
construction company Camargo Correa.
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