by Agence France-Presse
BRASILIA—Brazilian officials suspended bidding Tuesday by companies seeking to build a controversial Amazon dam opposed by Hollywood stars and indigenous Indian groups.
The overnight ruling by the regional justice ministry in the state of Para called the Belo Monte dam project “an affront to environmental laws,” directly countering a federal court’s order last week overturning an earlier challenge.
The issue has become spectacularly controversial, with even “Avatar” director James Cameron and star Sigourney Weaver wading in to give their backing to opponents and drawing parallels the with natives-versus-exploiters storyline of their blockbuster Hollywood movie.
Tenders were to have opened Tuesday under the federal court’s order, which reversed a previous suspension hailed by the dam’s critics.
But the Para state ministry said too many questions remained over how the massive project would affect flora and fauna in the region, and what would become of the 12,000 mostly indigenous families who would have to be relocated from the Xingu river area that would feed the dam.
The $10 billion dam project is a crown jewel in a Brazilian government plan to boost energy production through Belo Monte’s hydroelectric plant. The dam, expected to produce 11,000 megawatts, would be the third-biggest in the world, after China’s Three Gorges facility and Brazil’s Itaipu dam in the south.
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