Amazon Senator blames Minister of Environment for delay on BR-319 highway
27 de May de 2025
By Marcela Leiros – From Cenarium
MANAUS (AM) – During a hearing at the Federal Senate Infrastructure Committee this Tuesday, the 27th, Senator Omar Aziz (PSD/AM) blamed the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change (MMA), Marina Silva, for halted public works in the country, which delay development projects in Brazil. One of the projects mentioned was the BR-319 highway, which remains unfinished even after 40 years since its inauguration. In response, the minister stated that she is used as a cover to mask the “incompetence” of other governments.
The debate, which turned into a shouting match, revolved around the role of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) in licensing processes. The senator indicated that there was slowness on the part of the agency, affecting the progress of infrastructure projects.
“You are hindering the development of the country, I say this to you with the greatest naturalness in the world. You hinder the development of our country. There are over five thousand projects on hold because of this talk, governance, blah blah blah, yada yada,” said the senator.
Aziz also stated that people from Amazonas want the right to travel on BR-319. “I live in the Amazon. I live there. We do want BR-319, minister, to travel on, as you said. We do want it! We have the right to travel on BR-319, and it won’t be you who stops us from doing so. We, people from Amazonas, want to have the right to travel on BR-319. You walk on Avenida Paulista today, and we want to travel on BR-319,” Omar Aziz also said.
The minister responded to the statements by recalling that she had been out of government for 15 years and projects like BR-319 had not been carried out. “Why didn’t those so focused on concrete actions build BR-319? But there is a scapegoat who, even during 15 years, continued to be the scapegoat, to hide the incompetence of those who make promises and don’t fulfill them. That is concrete, very concrete. Or is it not true that from 2008 to 2023 there are 15 years? Why didn’t the Bolsonaro government do it?” questioned Marina Silva.
BR-319 was inaugurated in 1976 and connects the city of Manaus, in Amazonas, to Porto Velho, in Rondônia. For over 30 years, the highway has had unpaved sections that cause losses for those who need to travel on it.