Legacy of Rio's Olympic Port Project Questioned

(ATR) Rio de Janiero's ambitious port project is moving forward under mayor Marcelo Crivella's administration, but questions remain about who will benefit from its long-term goals.

A major project ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympics was the "Porto Maravilha" regeneration spearheaded by then-mayor Eduardo Paes. The goal of the project was to revitalize the area around Rio’s port district, in the oft-neglected downtown.

To start the project, Rio moved a large section of an above ground highway underground, creating the Orla Conde, a public walking path in the east of the port area dotted by museums and open space. The centerpiece of the project was the multi-million dollar Museum of Tomorrow. Previous Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff attended the opening, calling the revitalization "[transformational to] the entire region here, in a great place to express the history of our country."

As Paes left office, the new mayor Marcelo Crivella began programs focusing on austerity but working with some of Rio’s poorest citizens. Earlier this month, the Crivella administration announced it would be studying a plan to "municipalize" the port area in an effort to continue its regeneration. As it stands, works on the port area are only about a third complete, and many renovated warehouses remain empty, according to a City Hall release.

A spokesperson for Crivella explained to Around the Rings the proposal, which is still under study, would concentrate shipping needs in one area of the port. This would then allow for the creation of "a boulevard with cycle paths, museums, restaurants, bars and a modern cruise station," that could connect to the Orla Conde.

"Rio's City Hall believes in the integrated execution of urban valorization projects, logistical accessibility and expansion of the port's operational capacity," the spokesperson added. "The Municipality would assume articulation and supervision of the activities, constituting the Municipal Port Authority. Federal Police and Federal Revenue, as well as the port operators who remain with their functions."

Who Benefits from Revitalization?

Rio municipal authorities are hoping to continue government-led boosting of property prices and regeneration, known as valorization. Outside of the port area, is Rio’s downtown, which is a bustling area during weekdays but it is often empty at night and on weekends making it susceptible to crime.

As the area improves, citizens and observers say that the focus on the regeneration is to benefit the city’s elites and business interests at the expense of the local population and area’s rich culture.

Mauricio Santoro, a professor of political science at the Rio State University (UERJ), told ATR many of the plans being discussed are an opportunity to "reform what was done wrong" under Paes. Still, he thinks they still fall short of real change.

Under Crivella’s plan Companhia Docas do Rio de Janeiro, a federally-run company that controls the city’s port activities, would be taken over by the municipal government. That would bring the port’s operations within the broader regeneration plan that started under Paes.

"Although Paes and Crivella are political opponents, the revitalization of the port enjoys very strong support from the business community of Rio de Janeiro, which has commercial interests in its continuation," Santoro said. "[The plan] is a revitalization aimed at the elites, for tourists, which almost always does not take into account the needs of the inhabitants of the Port Zone, generally poor or low-middle class people."

An example of local culture being squeezed out of the port area as gentrification begins to take hold is the Instituto dos Pretos Novos. The IPN is a privately-run museum that is home to one of the largest slave burial grounds in Rio de Janeiro. It relies on private donations as well as modest government assistance to stay afloat.

Last month, after that assistance had dried up, supporters of the museum raised enough money to keep the museum running through April. The City of Rio, after public pressure, gave enough to keep it running through May, according to reports in the Independent. After that, the museum’s future remains uncertain.

Cosme Felippsen, 27, is a guide from Morro da Providência, a favela in Rio’s port region, the first favela in the city. He works to bring tourists around the area to showcase the culture of the favelados, or favela residents, and how public policy has impacted Rio’s poorest citizens.

Felippsen told ATR that the port area was a historically "neglected," part of town, until lawmakers saw an opportunity with a series of mega-events coming to Rio de Janeiro. Then in 2009, Paes introduced a law passed by the Rio municipal legislature allowing for lands to be bought under a public-private partnership to kick start works.

"The very reason for the process of gentrification to begin with is when the area is forgotten and abandoned and there begins improvements," Felippsen said. "Gentrification only delays real estate speculation so that spaces are bought for cheap prices, with the promise of a better area.

"I want to emphasize above all that there is no popular participation. That there is no public hearing other than to hear and understand the resident and who the residents are."

By the end of the regeneration works Felippsen says that City Hall estimates that the population of the area will grow from 30,000 to 100,000, with the new residents occupying new housing at prices many of the current residents cannot afford.

Santoro says he already sees real estate speculation hitting the area especially in the Morro da Conceição neighborhood. Ultimately, the project is one of necessity in the sense of restoring one of Rio’s oldest, culturally rich neighborhoods, but its practice is just a continuation of past, problematic policies.

"Crivella presented in the campaign an agenda more focused on specific problems of public services to the poorest population, criticizing many aspects of the reforms of Paes," Santoro said. "What he proposes now is, ironically, a continuation of what his rival had done."

Written by Aaron Bauer

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