The Porto Maravilha – or Marvelous Port – was the largest public-private partnership (PPP) in Brazil when it was established in 2009. The partnership’s goal was to transform the port zone, but the agreement also marked the end of a different proposal, a revitalization project with a focus on social participation and affordable housing.
Key to the urban restructuring of the area was the União, which donated more than 60% of land with construction potential. The Ministry of Cities led a working group in the federal government for the project for six years, but even with technical partners and favorable court decisions, the proposal to create a public consortium was thrown out.
Instead, the state adopted the current proposal, whose main guidelines were largely planned and carried out by the companies OAS, Odebrecht, and Carioca Christiani Nielsen.
The project, five million square meters in size, spans three of Rio’s neighborhoods – Santo Cristo, Gamboa and Saude. Put together, the two phases of the Porto Maravilha development received more than R$10 billion from the Federal Bank, or Caixa Economica Federal, in exchange for public land and Certificates of Additional Construction Potential (CEPACs). The same companies that planned the Porto Maravilha were also granted building rights for projects in the Morar Carioca housing program (worth R$32 million) and for the VLT, a new light rail tram (worth R$1.1 billion).
According to Alvaro Pereira, a researcher on the Porto Maravilha with a doctorate in law from the University of São Paulo, “The [adopted] proposal has no focus on housing and clearly differs from the public consortium. Its goal is to create profit for the private real estate market.”
The Port became a showcase for public-private partnerships, a development model that construction firms promoted. During the Michel Temer government (PMDB party) the Ministry of Cities, run by ex-congressman Bruno Araujo (PSDB party), decided to prioritize PPPs for the development of Brazilian cities, expanding the model used in the Porto Maravilha project.