Almost seven and a half years after the tragedy in Mariana (MG), four families received the keys to their rebuilt houses. In the coming days, they should be the first residents living in the new community of Bento Rodrigues, announced André de Freitas, president of the Renova Foundation, the entity that manages the process of repairing the damage caused as a result of the rupture of the dam belonging to the mining company Samarco. “This week, we started the process of handing over keys. It is a milestone for repairs,” he said this Thursday (27th), during a webinar to present the final report of the Rio Doce Panel, a consultancy managed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (UICN) and formed by national and international experts. Relying on funds donated by the Renova Foundation, they carried out studies and prepared recommendations for the repair process. In Mariana, two districts were razed: Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu. An agreement to repair the damage was signed in March 2016 by the federal government, the governments of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, Samarco and its shareholders Vale and BHP Billiton. From it, the Renova Foundation was created, responsible for managing the planned measures, including the reconstruction and resettlement of communities. The delay in delivering the works is one of the matters related to the reparation that led the Public Ministry of Minas Gerais (MPMG) to resort to the judicial spheres: Samarco is being charged a fine of R$ 1 million per day, starting from February 27, 2021, the last deadline set by the Justice for the delivery of resettlement. Critical of the Renova Foundation’s performance, the MPMG has also asked for the entity’s extinction on the understanding that it does not have the due autonomy in relation to the three mining companies. As Agência Brasil showed in November last year, the new district of Bento Rodrigues bears little resemblance to the community that was devastated by the mud. On the Google Street View platform, it is still possible to virtually walk through the streets that existed before the tragedy: simple one-story houses, a vegetable garden in the backyard, a chicken coop at the back of the house, few walls and lots of greenery can be seen. New district of Bento Rodrigues, Mariana, Minas Gerais. – Tânia Rêgo/Agência Brasil The district that is taking shape now has larger properties with a higher construction standard, surrounded by walls, some with barbecues and swimming pools, which give the air of an urban condominium and distance themselves from the landscape of a rural community . “The preservation of the way of life of the families was not guaranteed. It was a rural community and now they won’t even have raw water to plant their gardens and raise small animals. They will live in an urban subdivision. How are people going to reactivate themselves economically?”, asks Rodrigo Pires Vieira, coordinator of Cáritas in Mariana, an entity that provides technical assistance to those affected. Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu are being rebuilt in locations chosen through voting by the residents themselves. It was up to the Renova Foundation to acquire the land. In the case of Bento Rodrigues, the original construction schedule foresaw the delivery of the houses in 2018. But it was only in 2018 that the Renova Foundation approved the urban project together with those affected, and the work began. Thus, the estimates changed a few times until the entity stopped disclosing dates and the MPMG decided to bring the matter to court. According to the Renova Foundation, 189 families are expected to be resettled in Bento Rodrigues. To date, 119 homes have been completed. There are legal cases, due to lack of understanding between those affected and the Renova Foundation. In Paracatu, 72 families and 46 homes are ready. The Renova Foundation argues that the participatory character and the development of customized projects make the process slower. It also points out that the covid-19 pandemic caused a slowdown in work. “Is a long time. It’s over seven years. Doing a self-criticism, the Renova Foundation, at times, could have done better. But we must also recognize that the process was designed in a way that favored other issues and not the temporal one”, said André de Freiras. The Bento Rodrigues Commission for Affected People and Cáritas believe that the participatory process does not justify the delays and state that it is limited, with several phases of the project defined exclusively by the Renova Foundation. “The first deadline was 2018, the second, 2019, and we are already in 2023. And now it is delivering four keys. In this process, we have many violations of rights”, says Rodrigo. Moving Those affected made a collective pact in 2016 for everyone to move together, only when the works are 100% completed. However, Mônica dos Santos, a member of the Bento Rodrigues Affected Commission, criticizes the lack of a solid forecast for the delivery of all houses and considers that the Renova Foundation has created a situation where it is no longer possible to maintain the agreement. New district of Bento Rodrigues, Mariana, Minas Gerais. – Tânia Rêgo/Agência Brasil “The advertising she does is gigantic. And the time that we are waiting for is agonizing. I am very happy for the families that received the key. And at the same time, it’s a time of sadness for the people who couldn’t move. In these almost eight years, 52 people from the community died. And we have this fear. Who will be the next one? Will I be able to see the completion of my home? Will I have the pleasure of moving into my house? So it’s very complicated today to talk about waiting for everyone to move”, she says. At the end of last year, the Renova Foundation announced that it would be ready to move the first residents in January of this year. According to the entity, the public facilities were already completed. The last completed structure was the Sewage Treatment Station. Until the beginning of classes at the school, there was already a prediction: February 2023. The delivery of the first keys only in April is, for Mônica dos Santos, another chapter of the slowness of the work. She says she feels retaliated for criticizing the entity’s performance. “These first families will move to a construction site. Because the Renova Foundation does not treat everyone in the same way, it does not provide equal treatment. To date, my family has not even finalized the project. It’s not because I didn’t want to finish. And there is no forecast. Nobody knows when the Renova Foundation will sit down with the families that still don’t have a project or land”.
Agência Brasil
Folha Nobre - Desde 2013 - ©