Dilma defends investments for mobility in Northeast

While inaugurating two metro stations in Fortaleza (state of Ceará), President Dilma Rousseff defended today (July 18) that medium and large cities in the Northeast receive investments in urban mobility like those made in the 1990s in urban centers in the Southeast.

 “These cities can and should be treated urgently to ensure that we have conditions to do more for them. More than what was made the cities of the Southeast in the 1990s. We must do also for these great cities of the Northeast,” said the president in a speech.

Dilma embarked in the Chico da Silva Station and travel through an underground stretch to the José de Alencar Station. Both are part of the South Line of the capital of Ceará’s metro. The total project value of South Line is $666.8 million, $533.5 million from the Brazilian Growth Acceleration Program (PAC – Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento) and $133.3 million from the government of Ceará.

According to the president, in addition to the direct impact on the public transport system, expansion of the metro improves the working conditions of the people using the service. “People spend a lot of time inside a bus, inside a means of transport. When we do a project like this, we are giving quality of work, because the people will have better conditions to face a day of work and, when they return, they will have access to their leisure and will be able to rest earlier,” she said.

Dilma again criticized the lack of investment in public transport and urban mobility in the decades of 1980 and 1990 and said that back then there was no application of resources in the sector due to lack of political will. “At that moment, one of the evaluations was that metro was a rich thing, that a poor country should not build a metro, as if it were possible that a country in rapid urbanization and increasingly focusing population could dispense the metro,” she said.

“Before us, few investments were made in mass transit. It was agreed that mass transit was the responsibility of states and municipalities, and the federal government did not have to put money. But public transportation is a problem of the Brazilian people,” she added. According to Dilma, the government is investing $39.56 billion in 192 mobility works in 100 medium and large cities, including metros, bus lanes, LRV (Light Rail Vehicles), and BRT (Bus Rapid Transit).

During the ceremony, Dilma also signed the order of service to begin construction of the first stretch of the Cinturão das Águas (Water Belt), to ensure the supply of water in the Cariri region. The president said that increasing the supply of water in the Northeast is also a matter of political will and requires increased investments.

 “Solving the water security also requires political will. We want people can live despite drought, which means being able to prevent the harmful effects of it can act on productive activity and on the life of each one living in the semiarid region of the Northeast.”