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Veracel signs agreement with the government of Bahia to create indigenous housing - 12.21.04
On December 20, Veracel signed an agreement with the government of the state of Bahia, the Ministry of Cities, the Ministry of Health and the National Indian Foundation (Funai) to build housing and infrastructure in the indigenous community of Coroa Vermelha, in Santa Cruz Cabrália. The project will benefit 128 families through installation of basic sewage collection networks and income generation programs. The target is to eliminate a housing shortage in the community over the period of four years.
A payment of R$ 6,500 per housing unit will be passed along by the Ministry of Cities and another R$ 1,300 by the state government through the Secretariat for the Combat of Poverty and Social Inequality (Secomp). Veracel’s support will consist of helping to remove the old housing units from improper locations and helping develop a village in Coroa Vermelha. “Our commitment as part of this agreement is to provide the sewage and drainage infrastructure as well as to participate in partnerships to actually construct the houses,” explained Vitor Costa, president and CEO.
The project is a groundbreaking program in Brazil in terms of recovery of an indigenous community and Bahia was the first state to sign such a commitment. “With this project, the state government intends to give better living conditions to the community, respecting their particular way of life, their culture and the Indian’s own preference for housing,” stated Paulo Souto, governor of Bahia.
The families to be benefited, who currently reside in inadequate housing conditions along the banks of the Mutari River, will be removed to a safe area and receive standardized houses containing 62 square meters of covered area. “I believe that this agreement is more than just the construction of houses; rather, it consists of a policy of giving the communities the quality of life that they deserve,” said Father Clodoveo Piazza, the Secomp Secretary and one of those most responsible for the Program for Subsidizing Social Interest Housing (PSH), which provides the funding for the construction of the units.
Help will go not only to just the 128 Pataxó families but also to more than 600 other families who inhabit nearby areas during a first phase of the project. The initiative is an answer to long-standing complaints from the indigenous community. “This is the result that we were waiting for,” said Kamaiurá Pataxó, president of the Coroa Vermelha Pataxó Indigenous Community Association.