Lula promises to build controversial Amazon road

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Tuesday he would discuss with Amazonas Governor Wilson Lima the renovation of the BR-319, a badly damaged 918-kilometer federal road that connects the state capital of Manaus, the largest city in the Brazilian Amazon, with Porto Velho, the state capital of Rondônia.

“We have to stop the story that (Environment Minister) Marina (Silva) does not want to build the BR-319,” Lula said during a visit to a poor community in the town of Manaquiri, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Manaus.

“BR-319 was built in the 70s, it was abandoned due to the negligence of I don’t know who, it remained out of service, and today it is like this: it has one part that works at both ends and in the middle there are 400 kilometers that are made unusable,” he added.

The 885-kilometer (555-mile) road, when passable during the dry season, is the only land connection between Manaus, a bustling city of 2 million, and the rest of Brazil.

Supporters of BR-319 see the route as a vital piece of infrastructure that needs to be restored for the benefit of the people and economy of the Amazon. Opponents, however, argue that the route is a stain on the most protected part of the rainforest and that it is causing large-scale environmental destruction.

The BR-319 was not mentioned in the government’s new Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), unveiled in August 2023.

Large parts of the road were unpaved and returned to the forest. This made the BR-319 impassable for about six months of the year, as the rainy season turned the unpaved path into mud.

Lula told Governor Lima and Senators Eduardo Braga and Omar Aziz – all present on stage – that he would schedule a meeting with them to discuss the road’s reconstruction.

Lula added, speaking directly to Mr Lima: “We will have to guarantee that deforestation and land grabbing do not take place near the road,” stressing that such practices are common in Brazil when new roads are built.

In June, the Ministry of Transport published a report on the condition of BR-319, the result of a working group set up in late 2023. Minister Renan Fiho concluded that the road could be rehabilitated in a “sustainable” way, for example by building underground crossings for wildlife and green bridges for fauna.

The report added that “unpaved sections (of BR-319) have poor infrastructure conditions, lack of security and high maintenance costs” and that “poor accessibility and, as a result, a reduced state presence fuel crime and deforestation.”

Lula also said that the importance of BR-319 has increased due to the drought in the Amazon region, which has made rivers such as the Madeira unnavigable for part of the year.