KeralaNext.com reports Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday that his country will pave a road crossing the heart of the Amazon.The government and private partners will invest about 1.1 billion reais (480 million U.S. dollars) to pave 873 km of the road that links the cities of Cuiaba, in Mato Grosso state, and Santarem, in Para state.
The remaining 891 km of the 1,764-km long road has already been built. Government officials said the effort will begin this year and is due to be finished within two or three years.
Lula said the government chose June 5, the World Environment Day, for the announcement as the project was designed not to harm the rain forest and the native population near the road.
He stressed that the Environment Ministry, in cooperation with other government sectors, has prepared an environmental preservation plan for the road.
As part of the plan, the government has set the borders of Indian reserves located on both sides of the road. More than 30 Indian groups are living in the region. Environmental groups oppose the construction of the Cuiaba-Santarem road, a demand of soybean producers in the region, saying it will cause an ecological imbalance in the Amazon rain forest.
