The great Carajas project was hoped to bring something to the people who live in the under populated regions of Brazil, the north, the rainforest. There are huge deposits of high-grade iron and other minerals. The amount of iron found is the most that has ever been found in the world, an estimated 18 billion tones.
To make the most of this huge and profitable resource, the government set up the `Great Carajas Project' The project cost a huge amount of money. A lot of the investment came from outside of Brazil. The 900km railway alone cost $2.5 billion, without the cost of all the mines and equipment needed for mining, the resources needed to sustain huge numbers of workers, in otherwise inhabited forests. The US and Japan loaned $2.5 billion to Brazil, the World Bank loaned $300 million and the ECSC (European coal and steel community) loaned $600 million.
The mine, 130 km south-west of Macapa, dominates the local area and does not fit in with the wildlife and vegetation (as shown on the satellite map). The mine does provide jobs for the local people but the jobs are mainly covered by skilled foreigners anyway. The mine hinders the locals in the town of Carajas and the waste is not disposed of properly causing species which have lived there for hundreds of years to be driven fro the area.
The railway which connects the mine to macapa cost a fortune and all that it does is ferry goods to and from the mine. It devastates the local wildlife and prevents animals from migrating due to the giant fence which surrounds it.
The Hydroelectric plant in Tucurui, the second largest dam in brazil generates a vast amount of energy. However the energy never reaches the people of tucurui, it is shipped out to japan and britain. The local dam does not benefit the local people. When it was made the lake that was created behind it destroyed 2400km squared of land, only 10% of the trees in that area were chopped down and used and 81% of thee animals which were in residence before drowned or died trying to escape from the rising water. The lake made thousands of people homeless, they were off-loaded onto tribal land were they were threatened with death and were given no basic necesities for which to survive.
This project was hoped to make Brazil self-sufficient however it has done the opposite, all the companies which own and run the projectare foreign, german, british or japanese, and none of the profits have been given to the people who have been harmed. In conclusion the carajas project is development without progress, they are developing but this is not helping anyone there.
