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August 26, 2010 | Brazil Signs Contracts for Controversial Amazon Dam (Latin American Herald Tribune)

BRASILIA – President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed on Thursday the main contract for construction of a massive new hydroelectric dam in Brazil’s Amazon region, a project opponents say will displace some 50,000 Indians.

“What is happening here is a thing believed impossible years ago. The project we are initiating today is less aggressive than the original one,” Lula said in a ceremony at the presidential palace.

The minister of mines and energy, Marcio Zimmermann, said the Bela Monte complex, to be built near the mouth of the Xingu River in the northern state of Para, will “play an important role in the development” of the area.

People displaced by the dam “will be duly compensated” under a formula that they will help determine, the president of the Bela Monte enterprise, Carlos Nascimento, said.

The contract to build the complex was awarded to a consortium led by state-owned Companhia Hidro Eletrica do São Francisco. The government estimates the 11,233 MW dam will cost 20 billion reais.

Once complete, Belo Monte will be the world’s third-largest hydroelectric dam after China’s Three Gorges and the Itaipu complex, which is shared by Brazil and Paraguay. …Go to article.