Controversies Surrounding the Belo Monte Dam
A chain of massive dams is being scheduled in the development program of Brazil, the basic purpose of which is to motivate the country’s growth by building a gigantic groundwork of Dams and roads, primarily in the region of AMAZON.
The scope of the development schemes threatens to destruct or abolish immense region of land on which various tribal population, comprising some groups of extremely helpless native Indians, live. The Belo Monte dam project is a chief example of it.
The official named of the dam is Complexo Hidr-elétrico Belo Monte. Belo Monte Dam is a future or suggested hydro-electric dam that will produce electricity from the flow of Xingu River. The flow of water coming from Xingu River will be directed with the help of artificial canals which then divert the water flow towards the main power house. The predicted capacity of the dam is around 11,233MW (mega-watt). This vast capacity will enable Brazil to become a leading country to construct a massive hydro-electric Dam, 3rd largest in the world, and the 2nd largest Dam in Brazil. Yet there are many people who are against the construction of the dam because of its influences to the section, i.e. the means of support of hundreds of tribal population rest on the river and forestry for water, food and shelter.
The dam is surrounded with lots of controversies. Many, especially the natives, believes that if the dam is constructed it will cause a lot of devastation in the area. Some of the basic losses associated or controversies surrounding the construction of this dam are:
Arrival of Immigrants:
The arrival of migrants to the part in the course of the construction or building the Belo Monte Dam threatens to familiarize viciousness to the region and carry ailments to the Indians, making hard for them to survive.
Costly:
According to the government of Brazil, the plan or construction will charge 10 billion US Dollars minimum , but the manufacturing specialists says that because of the size and various difficulties in Amazon the project could cost somewhere around 18 billion to 20 billion US dollars.
This project is very costly and due to the variation in the flow of water because of various seasons it is believed that after the completion of this Dam, the government will have to construct various other dams for water storage to ensure sufficient water for this dam (Belo Monte) to produce electricity throughout the year. Otherwise this Dam will only produce or generate a little amount of electricity.
Inefficiency:
If Belo Monte Dam will be constructed then it will be included in the list of the utmost unproductive dams in the Brazil history, generating only 10 percent of its capacity during the months of July and October and for the rest of the year it can only produce somewhere around 4419 megawatt which is almost 39 percent of its total installed capability.
Damage to the bio-diversity as well as livelihood of natives:
The Xingu River is enriched with various species of fish i.e. around 600 different types of fishes from which many species are only found in this river. This river also contains Allobates crombiei (poisonous frog), zebra pleco and many other living organisms. With construction of this dam much will be lost.
Numerous organizations are against the construction of this Dam and are looking for the alternatives. Moreover, many other tribes have migrated to the allocated area of Dam and have constructed permanent villages.
With construction of the dam it is believed that large area will inundate, at the same time drying a large portion of River Xingu which will prove to be quite devastating for rainforest as well as reduction in fish stock, upon which the natives’ livelihood depends.
For many construction of Belo Monte is considered to be the most shocking infrastructure tasks that has never be seen in Amazon.