Task force will ensure grain flow along BR-163

Minister Tereza Cristina (Agriculture, Livestock and Supply) emphasized the importance of the works on BR 163 in Pará, included in Operation Radar II detailed this Wednesday (30) by the Minister of Infrastructure, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, with the aim of draining the 2018/2019 harvest. “This highway 163 is the main axis for the flow of a large part of the production, which has increased every year through Arco Norte, the ports in the region,” said the minister.

BR 163, better known as Rodovia Cuiabá-Santarém, began to be built in the 1970s in the state of Mato Grosso, but today it extends from the municipality of Tenente Portela in Rio Grande do Sul to Santarém (PA). In total, it is 3.470 km long. In March 2014, two sections were privatized - one in Mato Grosso do Sul and the other in Mato Grosso. The highway is, with the exception of Pará, where the lack of asphalt causes damage to the flow of agricultural production from Mato Grosso, the largest grain producer in the country.

“Mato Grosso, as everyone knows, is the largest grain producer in Brazil. Of the 237 million tons of production estimated for this year, 63,4 million should be produced in the state”, recalled Tereza Cristina.

In Operation Radar, a daily inspection is planned in BR, with the aim of acting in a preventive or emergency manner in order to guarantee trafficability and avoid impacts generated by rain in the region.

The minister highlighted the integrated work of the ministries to improve the flow of grain production. "In this government, everyone works together. There are no vanities."

There are three operational bases on stretches of BR, with field teams from the National Department of Infrastructure and Transport (DNIT) and the Army, with vehicles, equipment and flares. The bases were installed between the municipalities of Novo Progresso and Moraes Almeida, in Pará.

According to the Minister of Infrastructure, the government is working to complete around 100 km of unpaved stretch between the border of Mato Grosso and Santarém by the end of this year. According to him, 163 will be prepared for concession along with a small section of BR-230, which connects to the port of Mirititituba, on the Tapajós River, in Itaitub (PA).

Tarcísio de Freitas also announced that railway concessions should be renewed and plans to hold concession auctions for Ferrogrão, which Tereza Cristina highlighted is essential for production, and Fiol, also known as Ferrovia Oeste-Leste. The stretch passes through Bahia and Tocantins, connecting Porto Sul, in Ilhéus to the North-South Railway. The Ferrogrão project envisages a longitudinal railway forming an export corridor through the Amazon Basin, covering a length of 1.142 km, connecting the Center-West to the Port of Miritituba.