News

“Macacos” was the site chosen by the community for the reconstruction of gesteira

25/06/2016


Representatives of families from Gesteira, district of Barra Longa, elected this Saturday, 25 June, the site for reconstruction of the eight homes and public facilities impacted by the collapse of the Fundão dam. Among these are a church, a parochial meeting hall, and a soccer field.

With 95% of the votes, the area called “Macacos” was the one chosen. The site has an area of 7 hectares and is located next to the main block of the district, in compliance with the requests of the community. During the process of election of the site, the families from the Gesteira district were heard and the voting was carried out in two phases. First, the families that lost their homes chose the land for the reconstruction of the houses. Next, the community, jointly, defined the site where the public facilities would be rebuilt.

After today, discussions will focus on the architectural and urbanistic design, along with the construction standards of the residences. An individual dialogue will also be held with the families for the definition of details such as exact location, structure and finishing details of each home. Once these individual agreements have been made, it is expected that the engineering design will be ready by the end of the year.

Samarco will hand over the new site by 2019, according to the provisions of the Agreement signed with the Federal Government and the Governments of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo.

 

UNDERSTANDING THE AGREEMENT

The process of reconstruction in Gesteira is yet another of the commitments assumed by Samarco for the socioenvironmental and socioeconomic recovery of the areas impacted by the collapse of the Fundão dam. It is outlined in the agreement signed by Samarco and its shareholders (BHP and VALE) with the Federal Government and the Governments of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, in addition to federal and state government entities.

The document, homologated by the Courts on 05 May, involves the creation of a private Foundation that will be responsible for the implementation of 41 programs (of which 93% are already in progress) focused on two main work fronts: socioenvironmental and socioeconomic. It will also take over the emergency actions that have been adopted by Samarco since November of last year, and propose additional projects.

Check out how  was the site selection process:

Photo: Fernando Helbert