Government Gives Go-Ahead for Amazon Monitoring System
7/30/97
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Headline: Government Gives Go-Ahead for Amazon Monitoring
System
Source: Reuters
Date: 7/30/97
Author: William Schomberg
Copyright: Reuters Limited 1997
BRASILIA - Brazil's plan to build a $1.3 billion air
surveillance and data-collecting system in the Amazon
rainforest is finally under way after the government
authorised the first payments, officials said on Monday.
The controversial Amazon Surveillance System (Sivam), which
involves the installation of 19 radar stations, satellite
communications systems and other high-tech equipment, has
been stuck in the planning stages since it was first
proposed in 1990.
"It's been a long time coming because it is a very big
undertaking. But now the bureaucratic steps have all been
taken and work can begin," said Brazil Air Force Col.
Antonio Jose Faria dos Santos who is in charge of the
project.
Brazil hopes the system will help it fight drug smuggling in
its vast rainforest and control unauthorised mining and
farming which cause widespread environmental damage.
Sivam also is aimed at improving safety in the region for
commercial air traffic, monitoring meteorological
conditions, tracking epidemics and generally improving
Brazil's control over its Western Europe-sized chunk of
the forest.
The contract was awarded in 1994 to a group led by U.S.
engineering and technology giant Raytheon Co.. In a
statement, Lexington, Mass.-based Raytheon said it would
begin implementing the programme soon.
Just over $1 billion of the project's total $1.3 billion
cost will be provided to Brazil as a loan from the U.S.
Export-Import Bank.
Brazil's Finance Ministry approved a first payment of $90
million late on Friday. Officials already have opened
bidding for construction of radar sites and a small
hydroelectric project which will power the project, dos
Santos said.
Sivam was presented by the Brazilian government at the 1992
U.N. Earth Summit as a sign of its determination to protect
the Amazon from environmental destruction.
Since then, however, the project has been mired in
controversy, with critics alleging it was overpriced and
outdated.
It also was slowed by an alleged corruption scandal and
claims that countries seeking to land the lucrative contract
had resorted to espionage. None of the claims was upheld by
a Brazilian government investigation.
Two of four central information gathering centres are
expected to be up and running by 2000, and two more centres
should be completed by 2002, officials said.