The Regional Development Fund for the Hydroelectric Stations of Serra da Mesa and Cana Brava - Assessing the Regional Impact of Dams in Brazil

摘要

In May 2005, more than 300 farmers whose lives were affected by the dams of the power stations of Serra da Mesa and Cana Brava invaded and occupied the head office of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Brasília. The farmers wanted the Bank to force the energy company from Belgian origin, Tractebel Energia, to accelerate the indemnification process of their families regarding social, cultural and economic losses resulting from the construction of the Cana Brava’s dam at river Tocantins by the company. IADB was this project’s main financing institution. Problems like these got common in Brazil since the beginning of the nineties, when the first reforms of the power sector started, i.e. since private investment in power generation became usual. Investors (private or state owned energy companies or consortia), however, are expected by the regular process of environmental licensing conducted by environmental regulatory agencies in federal and state levels to foresee in their investment budgets and to bear compensations and indemnification payments. Nevertheless, these costs are usually underestimated as local population, which, as a rule, live in poor and underdeveloped regions in Brazil, decide to make the dam owners responsible for their social and economic needs, considering the deficient public action in their region. Therefore, this paper intends to address the first initiative conducted by the Brazilian federal government of creating a regional development fund associated to the construction of two dams in the same river, whose design process involved the main stakeholders: the local population, investors, the project financers and the government.