Brazil announces $880 bn infrastructure plan

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IANS/EFE | 30 Mar, 2010
Brazil has announced plans to build $880 billion-worth of infrastructure between 2010 and 2016.

The projects are part of an economic stimulus programme whose first phase is half-completed, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced Monday.

The new plan, named the 'Growth Acceleration Program 2' or PAC 2, emphasises on increasing the country's energy production capacity, construction of homes and necessary improvement for hosting the 2014 football World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

"PAC 1 and PAC 2 are a commitment by the Brazilian state to the redemption of this country. Whoever arrives in the presidency will not be able to tear it up and do something else," Lula said while rejecting the opposition's allegations that the announcement only hides the electoral motives of the ruling party.

The president, however, said bureaucratic shackles were delaying the PAC projects, which "cannot stop" and must begin "as soon as possible."

The new programmes include construction of two million homes, which will contribute to reducing the country's housing deficit by half, and a high-speed rail service between Rio and Sao Paulo.