Lula will fulfill his agenda in Iguatu (CE), on Friday (5), focusing on water resources; see schedule – PontoPoder

The president Lula (PT) should visit Ceará next Friday (5), accompanied by the ministers of Integration and Regional Development, Waldez Góes (PDT), and Transport, Renan Filho (MDB), to sign Order of Service for construction of the Salgado Branch and visit works of Transnordestina in the State.

Governor Elmano de Freitas (PT) should also be present. He was the one who first announced Lula’s visit to the State, through social media, last week.

The event is scheduled to start at 9 am, at the Transnordestina Camp, in the Suassurana district, in Iguatu, a municipality in the Center-South region of Ceará, according to the official invitation. The signing ceremony is expected to take place around 11am.

This will be the fourth time that Lula comes to the State during his third term. The last presidential visit took place in January this year, to announce the installation of the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), at the Fortaleza Air Base. At the time, the PT member was accompanied by Governor Elmano, the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana (PT), the Commander of the Air Force, Marcelo Kanitz Damasceno, and the Minister of Defense, José Mucio Monteiro Filho (PRD).

Salgado Branch

The construction of the Salgado Branch is part of the original project for the São Francisco River Transposition project, but only now will the stretch receive investment to begin work. The expected investment value is R$600 million, coming from the new Growth Acceleration Program (PAC).

The Salgado Branch must be around 35 kilometers long to transport water from the São Francisco River from the Apodi Branch, in the state of Paraíba, to the North Transposition Axis, at the height of the Ceará municipality of Lavras da Mangabeira. The infrastructure must include 13 canal segments, three aqueducts, a siphon, eight rapids, a tunnel and control structure.

The equipment is expected to reduce the journey of Transposition waters to the Castanhão Reservoir, located in the Vale do Jaguaribe region, by around 150 kilometers, as announced by the Government of Ceará.

The waters of the Ramal do Salgado should benefit around 4.7 million people in more than 50 cities in Ceará. They are: Acarape, Aquiraz, Aracati, Araçoiaba, Aratuba, Baixio, Barreira, Baturité, Beberibe, Capistrano, Cascavel, Caucaia, Cedro, Chorozinho, Eusébio, Fortaleza, Fortim, Granjeiro, Guaiúba, Guaramiranga, Horizonte, Ibaretama, Ibicuitinga, Jaguaribe , Icó, Ipaumirim, Itaiçaba, Itaitinga, Itapiúna, Jaguaretama, Jaguaribara, Jaguaribe, Jaguaruana, Lavras da Mangabeira, Limoeiro do Norte, Maracanaú, Maranguape, Morada Nova, Mulungu, Ocara, Pacajus, Pacatuba, Pacoti, Palhano, Palmácia, Pereiro, Pindoretama, Quixeré, Redenção, Russas, São Gonçalo do Amarante, São João do Jaguaribe, Tabuleiro do Norte, Umari and Várzea Alegre.

Transnordestina Railway

In January of this year, the CEO of Transnordestina Logística, Tufi Daher, signed a service order for the construction of lots 4 and 5 of the Transnordestina Railway in Ceará. The lots must include 101 kilometers of railway corridor in the State, between the municipalities of Acopiara, Piquet Carneiro and Quixeramobim.

The works are part of phase 1 of the Transnordestina project, which is 70% ready, according to the Federal Government. To conclude, it is necessary to make a connection between the backlands of Piauí, from the city of Eliseu Martins, with the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex (CIPP), in São Gonçalo do Amarante, in the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza.

The expectation is that phase 1 will be completed by 2027, before the railway begins operating, which will have a total length of 1,206 kilometers. Phase 2 is expected to be completed by 2029.

At the event in January this year, Governor Elmano stated that an amendment to the contract worth R$ 3.8 billion is necessary for the Transnordestina project to be completed by 2027. At the time, the amendment would still be requested from the Federal Government .

The estimated total value of the railway in Ceará is R$6.5 billion. For the entire cargo route to be completed, investments of around R$2 billion are still planned in the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex and around R$1.7 billion to complete the work in Piauí.

“There are almost 10 billion in investments to create infrastructure for the State. And what does this mean? Each trip of this train that will arrive at the Port of Pecém, is as if 240 trucks arrived, that is, the load of these 240 trucks comes in a only travel on this train, which has around 3 kilometers of carriage”, highlighted the governor at the time.