Brasilia, Dec. 20 (EFE) – Brazil’s Congress of Deputies on Wednesday approved a bill that facilitates the paving of a controversial road that cuts through the Amazon, connecting the city of Manaus with the rest of the country allowing easier access for illegal loggers, cattle ranchers, agribusiness and other developers that stimulate deforestation.
The project intends to use funds from the Amazon Fund, set up to protect the forest.
The text, which still has to be approved by the Senate, loosens the procedures for granting the environmental license for the project, which has been widely criticized by environmentalists.
The BR-319 was built by the military government in 1973 but soon deteriorated and turned into a muddy swamp during the rainy season, making it virtually impossible to travel from one end of the road to the other and isolating Manaus, a city of 2 million people with numerous factories clustered around a free trade zone.
For this reason, the political class in northern Brazil has been demanding for years that the road be paved, claiming that it is essential for trade and the connection of the two states it crosses, Amazonas and Rondônia.
Wednesday’s bill describes the road as «critical infrastructure, indispensable for national security,» which makes it necessary to «guarantee its transitability.»
The text intends to use money from the Amazon Fund, which was set up with donations from countries such as Germany and Norway to finance actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat deforestation. EFE
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