Dredging at Brazil’s Madeira River Resumes

Brazil’s National Department of Transports Infrastructure, DNIT, said in mid-June that dredging at the local Madeira River, a 1.4 million-square-meter affluent located between the country’s north states of Amazonas and Rondônia, has resumed. The BRL 68.7 million ($17.8 million) project was awarded last year to the JEED-EPC consortium, a partnership between JEED Engenharia and EPC Construções. The consortium will dredge the Madeira River, one of the biggest tributaries of the Amazon, in a five-year timeframe. DNIT said it picked 10 strategic sections of the river to perform the project. The selected areas include Curicacas, Cintra, Tamanduá and Cojubim, which are said to be critical areas due to the dry season in the region this year. The government-run dredging project will bring the river’s depth to 3.5 meters (11.4 feet) at its navigation channels during the dry season. “It would guarantee the safe navigation of barges transporting corn, soy and fuels as well as general cargo,” DNIT said in a statement. “We expect dredging for this year to finish by end-October.”