Brazil could auction a train project for the Amazon in 2022

Brazil could auction a controversial project for the construction of a grain transportation train that would cross a strip of the Amazon rainforest next year after legal obstacles are resolved, according to a senior government official.

A large business group already has investment plans for the railway that would connect Brazil’s soy-producing region with ports in the north of the country to send the cereals to Asia, said Infrastructure Minister Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas.

The nearly 1,000-kilometer project was suspended by a supreme court judge for fear of deforestation.

“The judicial issue is easy to resolve”Freitas said in an interview in Madrid. The sale of the 25.2 billion reais (US $ 4.6 billion) rail license “It could come next year, but the most important thing is that it will be done because it is a necessity for Brazil“, he pointed.

The railway, whose name in Portuguese is Ferrogrão, is a source of tension between global activists and the Administration of President Jair Bolsonaro. Environmentalists warn that the project will generate further destruction to the Amazon by fostering land development and endangering nearby indigenous communities.

The Government indicates that it will boost one of the main agricultural export sectors in the world and that the environmental impact will be limited.

The railway will be built 40 meters from an existing highway, thus minimizing environmental damage, Freitas said, adding that the train will replace grain-laden trucks that emit one million tons of carbon dioxide each year. He also said that the project would not invade indigenous territories.

The accusations of environmental devastation stem from an international trade war that aims to harm the agricultural sector in Brazil, one of the world’s largest producers of grains and meat, he said. Disrupting the rail project would make the country less competitive with other major producers of soft raw materials.

“When Ferrogrão starts operating, the costs for producers will drop by 40% and that scares a lot of people”Said Freitas. “So, to destroy the Ferrogrão project, they keep the focus on the environment ”.