With an eye on the organization of Rio’s beaches and the quality of the services provided, Rio City Hall legalized, this Wednesday (27/03), another 195 professionals who carry out the activity of selling mate on the beaches, the famous mateiros – who are intangible cultural heritage of Rio. In addition to the permits, the City Hall also offered training in good practices to professionals, through the team from the Municipal Institute of Health Surveillance, Zoonosis Surveillance and Agricultural Inspection (IVISA-Rio).
The initiative is from the Subprefecture of the South Zone, in partnership with the Municipal Secretariat of Public Order and the Subprefecture of Barra da Tijuca. The ceremony to hand over the new permits was attended by deputy mayors Flávio Valle, from Zona Sul, and Rafael Lima, from Barra da Tijuca, as well as the Municipal Secretary of Public Order, Brenno Carnevale.
The 195 permits distributed this Wednesday are valid until December 31st and renewed upon payment of the Annual Public Area Use Fee (TUAP) in the amount of R$94.83. With this license in hand, the recipients will be able to sell mate in any part of Rio’s waterfront.
For the deputy mayor of the South Zone, Flávio Valle, the legalization of the activity, combined with training, offers more security for everyone.
“Today is a special day. We are handing out licenses and offering training to another group of bushmen. The beach is a great asset of Rio and ensuring legalization and training for the services provided offers security for professionals and consumers. It is essential to train professionals who deal with the handling of food and beverages for direct consumption, which can pose risks to the consumer’s health”, explained Flávio Valle.
The Secretary of Public Order, Brenno Carnevale, highlighted the City Hall’s work with the regulation of professionals.
“This is another wave of delivery of licenses that we do for beach foresters. They add to others already granted and others that we will still do, such as licenses for street traders in the Uruguaiana region. It is a way of giving us the opportunity of legalized work for these traders, but also for them to understand that they need to comply with City Hall’s rules for a harmonious coexistence between them and pedestrians”, highlights the secretary.
The deputy mayor of Barra da Tijuca, Raphael Lima, reinforced the importance of valuing these professionals.
“Mate is a symbol of Rio de Janeiro. We are always very happy to hand over the licenses to these people who represent Rio and who help the city’s economy”, celebrated the deputy mayor of Barra.
Aline Borges, president of IVISA-Rio, highlighted the importance of training in good practices:
“The woodsmen are a true heritage of Rio’s culture. Therefore, it is very important that they are able to provide an excellent service, with quality and safety for the population.”
Mateiro Alexandre dos Santos Junior, better known as Juninho do Matte, 35 years old, has been working at Leme beach since 2008. He was one of the most excited about his work permit. He took advantage of the event to appeal to consumers to only buy products from legal professionals.
“For those who work on the beach, this action by City Hall is very important. Now I have my work credential and there are many people with no experience who simply buy the gallon and sell a product with no quality. This harms the entire category. I have the dream of selling my mate to the world and this best practices course is extremely important because it adds to my work. I take this opportunity and appeal to you to only buy mate from legal bushmen”, he said.
