04/01/2013
Brazilian Northeast, The California from Brazil.
Economist says transposition of the São Francisco will change every life in the region.
by Carlos Newton:
The economist Carlos Lessa, former president of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), defends the project divert water from the Rio São Francisco, saying the intransigent position of Bishop Luiz Flavio Cappio of Barra (BA), is unjustifiable and detrimental to the poorest people of the Northeast.
"The position of Dom Cappio, who has two hunger strikes, is based on false premises, because he believes that, rather than the transfer of water, the government should do small works envisaged in the Northeast called Atlas, construction of small dams and drilling wells, "says Lessa, lamenting that important civil society institutions, such as the Order of Lawyers of Brazil (OAB), also incur the same mistake the Bishop of Barra.
According to the economist, the bishop is wrong for not taking into account that most of the wells drilled in the poorest regions of the Northeast has resulted in unhealthy water with high content of nitrate and useless for human consumption to be carcinogenic and cause heart diseases, diseases kidney and fetal abnormalities.
"By the same token, we need to support the implementation of the waters of San Francisco, which will also solve the problems of water supply in major cities like Fortaleza, Natal and Campina Grande," said Lessa, who is one of the critical combative politics economic, but recognizes the success of the government on the issue of San Francisco.
Reasons:
In his management of the BNDES, in the first term of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Lessa had opportunity to study the subject thoroughly and is convinced that the implementation represent the economic and social redemption Northeast.
"From the point of view of economic and social, the Northeast has always been considered an almost insoluble problem. Failure of successive governments indicated that the call drought industry was destined to perpetuate itself, prompting a permanent situation exodus towards urban centers especially Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. But this reality will begin to change, and dramatically, "said Lessa.
In his view, to ensure sustained growth of agricultural production in Brazil is already proven that the most viable alternative is investment in the Northeast, whose potential in terms of export agriculture is amazing, comparable only to the named Imperial Valley of California, the hectare rural valued more the United States.
location
Lessa said that this amazing Brazilian California called vai arise in northeastern North Axis - a vast region crossed by rivers Jaguaribe (Ceará) and Apodi (Rio Grande do Norte), also covering part of Paraíba and Pernambuco. Are flat lands, with highly calcareous soils fertile, far more conducive to agriculture than the cerrado. Moreover, there are ideal conditions for brightness, with 320 days of sunshine per year. Only lack irrigation.
"Depending on the volume of water to be made in the design of the transposition of the São Francisco River, may be irrigated an extension of up to one million hectares - ie, an area about 25 times larger than the famous fruit pole of Petrolina, in Pernambuco. Inset: Brazilian Calif., will only cost $ 0.05 per cubic meter of water for use in irrigation farmers. it is cheaper than water extracted from wells today, which is almost always too salinated "stresses.
The former president of BNDES explained that another key advantage is that the Axis northeastern North is strategically located near the coast, could export their products through the ports of Natal (RN), Suape (PE), Cabedelo (PB) or Pecém (EC), to supply the markets of North America, Europe / Middle East and Asia (through the Panama Canal), with very competitive freight.
Font: tribunadaimprensa.com.br
