Brazil's energy giant wins bid to construct controversial Amazon dam
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The North Energy consortium on Tuesday won a bid to build the Belo Monte Dam in Brazil's Amazon region, according to consortium sources.
The consortium is composed of the Sao Francisco Hydroelectric Company (Chesf), a subsidiary of state-controlled Eletrobras, the construction company Queiroz Galvao, and six other companies.
According to the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel), the official announcement cannot be made due to a judicial measure.
The bidding, involving only two competitors, could be completed after the Justice Tuesday afternoon annulled a preliminary order that had been issued on Monday, suspending its implementation.
The bidding for the Belo Monte Dam was halted three times before a final appeal by the government allowed the winning bidder to be announced Tuesday.
The Solicitor-General's Office stated chances that the bidding process would be annulled are minimal because further actions being brought by opponents of the project are few.
The winning consortium submitted a lowest price to be charged for constructing the Belo Monte Dam, to be built on the Xingu River in the state of Para.
The maximum price set by the Ministry of Mines and Energy was 83 reais (47 U.S. dollars) per megawatt hour, while the North Energy consortium has committed to 77.97 reais (44 dollars) per megawatt hour.
The construction of the dam, planned since the 1970s, has become a target of criticism from traditional communities, indigenous leaders and environmental organizations, which demonstrated against the bidding process outside Aneel's headquarters on Tuesday.
According to Brazil's Ministry of Mines and Energy,the government considers the Belo Monte Dam "a priority project to ensure the electrical power required for the growth of the country."
Environmentalists and indigenous groups say the Belo Monte Dam would devastate wildlife and the livelihoods of 40,000 people who live in the area to be flooded.
But Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva insists that the dam is essential, saying it will provide clean and renewable energy to fuel the South American country's growing economy.
The giant project will have an installed capacity of 11,000 megawatts, the second largest in Brazil. It would only come behind Itaipu hydroelectric, located on the Parana River and capable of producing 14,000 megawatts, and is shared by Brazil and Paraguay.
The total cost of the project is estimated at 19,000 million reais (10,800 million dollars), and the power plant would become operational in 2015.
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