About Santo Antônio

Since September of the year 2000 – with the initiative of the former president Fernando Henrique – the plan of the hydroelectric plants on the Rio Madeira have gained more force. Later on the Lula Government assumed the plan as one of the main projects of energy generation of his government.

Through a public sale the power plants of Santo Antônio and Jirau was sold in December of 2008. The construction companies of the hydro-electrics will have 30 years of concession and right to sell the electricity generated by the constructions. Their gain from the sale of energy will be in average of 92 billion during 30 years. Every day the two plants will gain in average 4 million dollars from the sale of energy.

River: Madeira

Municiple: Porto Velho

State: Rondônia

Region: North of Brazil

Concessionaires: Consórcio Santo Antonio Energia (SAE), formed by the following companies: Odebrecht (18,6%), Construtora Norberto Odebrecht (1%), Andrade Gutierrez (12,4%), Cemig (10%), Furnas (39%) and investment funding Santander/Banif (20%).

Installed Capacity:: 3.150,4 MW

Steady Electricity: 2218 MW average

Reservoir area: 271 km²

Height: 60 metres

Number of turbines: 44

Costs: R$ 15,1 billions

Auction date: 13/06/2008

Licensing stage: installation license issued on 13/08/2008

Start of operation: first trimester of 2012, in operation of the first 44 turbines.

Number of workers at the peak of the construction: 19 thousand

Number of affected: Since the announcement of the construction the companies have always released uncertainty about the number of the people affected by dams. At the hydro-power station of Santo Antônio the Basic Environmental Plan estimates 561 families. In 12/08/2009 the consortium public affirmed that 1.145 families are integrated to the relocation program. In August 2011 the number released by the company was of 1729 families. Today the number of the affected may exceed 2.000 families. In Rondonia the MAB has always alerted of the possibility of the two power plants on the Madeira River affect 5.000 families.

According to official data of the SAE, from the 1,729 families (August/2011) 7.1% received credit statement, 19.7% were resettled, 65.7% received compensation, 6.7% have lawsuits and 0,8% remains.

DENIED CASE: At Joana D’Arc – an agrarian reform settlement – a portion of its settlement is considered affected by the company and the other mayor part of the settlement is not considered. The company denies the rights of many families who are now isolated because of the filling of the lake.

Reassetlemment: The families were not consulted about how their new houses should be constructed. The COMPANY imposed truculently resettlement model which is now seen as extremely controversial. It has been implemented in all seven areas (Santa Rita, Novo Engenho Velho, São Domingos, Riacho Azul, Vila de Teotônio , Morrinhos and Parque dos Buritis). All settlements were created without following the same pattern.

Some impacts:

FISHERS: there is complete loss of fish in some areas. Until today the consortium does not even have a list of identification of the artisan fishers of the affected region. They don’t receive a indenization or repairment. Summing the existent registers on the colony and the fishers trade union of Porto Velho there are more than 3.000 fishers in the region.

LANDSLIP: With the opening of the floodgates over 140 families left their homes in the Triangle neighbourhood in Porto Velho, becoming homeless. They are living in a improvised way in hotels in Porto Velho. The fall of the bank is more than 2 km long; local population are scarred. Because of the strength and magnitude of the impact generated by the fall of the ravine and because of the reinforcement of the Federal and State Public Ministry and the Civil Defence of Porto Velho the consortium was held accountable for the landslip. In São Carlos, a district below, where 1000 families lives the ravine is already showing signals of landslip.

NEW FLOD AREAS: In Jaci Paraná a district located 100 km from Porto Velho more families were affected after the filling of the lake, about 30 families were affected. The rising of the groundwater has consequences, such as insalubrity in the water of the “Amazonian wells” which families used for consumption.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS: three biodiversity conservation units had their areas reduced to the formation of the water reservoir. In the states of Amazonas and Rondônia, for instance, 8470 hectares were excluded from the National Park Mapinguari to make way for the reservoirs of the plants of Santo Antônio and Jirau on the Madeira River.

MADEIRA: on the riverside the trees which were cut are piled at the riverside and is not removed yet.

Santo Antônio Rondônia,