Nina Wegner – Christian Science Monitor, 07/20/2013
Brazil is busy polishing its image in anticipation of hosting the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics, spending billions on budgets for border control, crime eradication, and public projects.
But while the construction of soccer stadiums and the war on crime grab headlines, Brazil’s largest and most expensive infrastructure project is hidden deep in the Amazon on the “Big Bend” of the Xingu River. There, the Belo Monte dam – the third largest dam in the world – is rapidly being built. And how the dam is completed could play an important role in shaping the future of one of the world’s last frontiers – the Amazon Rainforest.
“The effects of this dam will be better than any other dam in Brazil,” says Vilmar Soares, a co-founder of FORT Xingu, an organization that supports development in the Xingu Region. “This is the first hydroelectric dam in Brazil that implements a plan of regional development for when the dam is completed.”
Brazil Portal 