187 affected families by the Cana Brava dam will be compensated

6 millions reais will be destined to the families after one year of occupation in front of the gates of the power plant.

In a Sunday morning of August 12 of 2013, circa of 40 families occupied the front gates of the Hydro-power Plant of Cana Brava, in Goiás. Some hours afterwards, more than 400 affected families joined the occupation. The families demanded the French company Suez-Tractbel, concessionary of the power plant, the payment of compensations to those affected by the construction of the dam.

The people affected affirmed that they would stay at the occupation until their demands would be attended.

“After the beginning of the encampment negotiations with the company have started for an agreement to compensate the families. During all this time the value of the compensations and the number of the families to be attended were the main issues that have been discussed”, said Agenor Costa da Silva, coordinator of MAB.

16 months of struggle and occupation in front of the power plant until an important achievement.

An agreement have been signed between Tractbel Energia S.A, the Movement of People Affected by Dams, the Commission of Representatives of miners labourers with intermediation of IBAMA; the Federal Public Ministry of Anápolis/GO; from the Human Rights Commission of the Legislative Assembly from the state of Goiás and the National Secretary of Social Articulation.

The agreement pre-sees the payment of R$ 6,088,000.00 to compensate the 187 affected families by the Hydroelectric Power Plant of Cana Brava.

The payment will contemplate the land owners and the mining workers affected by the the lake of the dam.

At this moment, the compensations have being started to be paid; at the moment, the collection of some signatures of the involved parts in the agreement still needs to be done. This is planned to happen until end of this week.

The many other affected families that are not covered in this agreement have the right to present documents that proves its loses to Tractbel; this is a right, ensured by the Federal Public Ministry and recognized by IBAMA. In case the company refuses to accept it and does not pay the compensations to the families, the company will be penalized at the moment of the renewal of the concession.

Cana Brava

The Hydro-power of Cana Brava, the first large dam built completely by a private company, is located at the basin of the Tocantins river, between the municipalities of Minaçu and Cavalcante, approximately 250 kilometres from Brasilia. The company have been build and implemented by the Meridional Energy Company (CEM), subsidiary of Tractebel, which is a French multinational company.

More than ten years have passed, the construction of the dam ended in December of 2001, hundreds of people affected haven’t received any compensation yet from the construction company and these people have suffered dozens of rights violations.

Suez-Tractebel is one of the companies that commits major violation of rights of the affected population and this is why this company is constantly being investigated.

The report of the Independent Investigation Mechanism Panel, of 2006, of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), one of the project sponsors, confirmed several misconceptions of the bank in relation to the construction, as the “inadequate quality of attention to vulnerable groups” approval of incomplete resettlement plan in crucial areas”,”insufficient attention to the analysis of impoverishment and economic and social viability post-resettlement of affected vulnerable affected groups”, etc.

In another report, the Special Committee, established by the Council for the Defense of the Human Rights (CDDPH) established between 2006 to 2010 to examine allegations of rights violations in the construction and implementation of dams, were found 16 human rights violated at the hydro-eletric power plant of Cana Brava.

It have being detected that rights have being violated, as: the right to information and participation, right to freedom of assembly, association and expression, the right to work and for a decent standard of living, right to come and go, right to adequate housing, right to education, right to full repair of losses, etc.