The Suape Industrial Port Complex prioritizes and is open to dialogue with the residents of the 27 communities identified in its territory of 13,500 hectares. The contact is ongoing and occurs through the Land and Property Management Office, which handles all the matters that involve the residents. The staff includes social workers who provide services and develop reconciliation actions.
Some of the main actions developed by this Office are: preparation of an economic and social analysis and a professional profile of each family, with information on the level of schooling of the population and the type of employment; access to social assistance networks; coordination with public and private institutions to register for social benefits; organization of educational campaigns and talks on the use of natural resources, conservation of heritage and appropriation of social rights; organization of workshops, courses and training for leaders, among many other activities. It is a permanent relationship that has never been broken or interrupted.
Between 2007 and 2016, Suape compensated 1,541 families, paying a total of R$87.5 million for the improvements made to the land (buildings and plantations). All the agreements were approved in court and the compensated families are relocated, when necessary, to houses or plots of land, depending on the choice of the residents. The process has the purpose of resettling people who used to live in areas allocated for environmental preservation or in industrial zones. This process is monitored both by bodies of the Judiciary and by other organizations and characterized by ongoing dialogue between everyone involved.
For the families with an urban profile, Suape is building 2,620 homes in the Governor Eduardo Campos Housing Project, in Cabo de Santo Agostinho. The housing project is being built on an area of 97 hectares, of which 27 hectares are a preserved green area. The project has plots of 125.28 square meters and the houses are 40.32 square meters. The future residents will also benefit from public leisure equipment, a public health clinic, a day care center and school for 260 students and three sewage treatment stations. The project’s first 583 houses are expected to be ready in the first half of 2018.
For the families with a rural profile, the management of Suape has allocated 2,987 hectares for the creation of four settlements. In recognition of this work, the social project developed in the 27 communities of the Suape territory competed in the 2017/2018 edition of the Best Practices Award organized by [the state-owned bank] Caixa Econômica Federal, in the Local Management category.
VILA NOVA TATUOCA – Concerning the deeds in the community of Vila Nova Tatuoca, Suape provided a Title of Definitive Use of the Property, recognized and registered in the local Notary Office. This document grants all rights to the resettled families, except the right to sell the property, but it was not accepted by the residents. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has been notified about the situation so a position can be taken.
ILHA DE MERCÊS – On the case of the possible construction of a thermal power plant in the industrial region of the Suape Complex, we clarify that this project does not affect the community of Ilha de Mercês, since the development will be outside the polygonal of the community. Concerning the recommendation issued by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, we inform that Suape is engaged in dialogue with the authorities involved in order to adjust its provisions to the reality of the region.
DIAGONAL – CEPLAN – We clarify that the consulting services of the Diagonal – Ceplan consortium were contracted by the management of the Complex in order to develop an analysis of the region. The consortium does not have any authorization to make promises on behalf of Suape, neither does the management of the Complex have official knowledge of complaints made by residents from the region regarding promises made to local communities.
SECURITY – On the subject of surveillance services, the Suape company has two outsourcing contracts with the purpose of inspecting the public property under its management.
One with TKS Segurança Privada Ltda., for a team of 170 guards, which provides services exclusively inside the Port, at established posts, performing port security activities. Another 54 guards work in the buildings where the other facilities of the Complex’s management are located.
They all wear uniforms with name tags and they comply with the requirements of the Federal Police, the institution responsible for regulating private security companies. The other contract is with LISERVE, which supplies 36 inspectors. These are employed in the inspection of the Suape territory, on an area of 13,500 hectares.
The employee Romero Brito is inspection supervisor at Suape and only receives information from the field inspectors in the territory under the responsibility of that company. Suape is a state-owned company and, as such, always acts in compliance with the law and the public interest. The use of violence against the native families in the region is vehemently condemned. We also emphasize that the security guards do not carry weapons when they are working in the territory.
Suape does not carry out demolitions of the houses of homesteaders, except in cases of court-ordered repossession, repossessions resulting from agreements approved in court and structures that are in the process of being built by trespassers. In these cases, the demolitions take place with the support of the municipal government, which has police power.
On the matter of taking photographic records of the houses of residents, this only occurs when that company needs to prepare technical reports to determine compensation amounts or when houses have been built illegally by trespassers, so the appropriate legal action can be taken.
FISHING IN THE PORT – The Port of Suape is governed by international security regulations such as the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, which has been in effect since July 2004, as a result of the terrorist attack of 11 September 2001 in the United States.
This code establishes security rules for ships and facilities, such as tighter restrictions on people and vehicles entering and leaving the port facilities, identification of the port perimeter and the need to register people and vehicles that enter the port facilities.
In addition to the ISPS Code, the Port of Suape also observes the rules of the Brazilian federal government on the access of people to port areas. In other words, the Suape management complies with all the legal guidelines on the topic. We note that the daily entry and departure of ships in the port requires absolute control by the staff, since it is necessary to guarantee the security of everyone involved in the port operations.
ENVIRONMENT – Concerning the environmental policies developed at Suape, management points out that the investments are in keeping with an environmental and social sustainability policy for the region. The Suape territory is divided into five zones and the Ecological Preservation Zone (ZPEC) occupies 59% of the 13,500 hectares of the Complex.
We emphasize that Suape is classified in 4th place in the Environmental Performance Index (IDA), which is calculated periodically by the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq). In 2016, it achieved a score of 88.17% (of a total of 100 points). The increase of 23.76% (it was in 8th place in 2015) in the score was caused by the introduction of a series of actions, including environmental port monitoring. Of the 30 Brazilian ports assessed by the index, Suape has the highest classification among the ports of the North/Northeast of the country.
Currently, more than 1,000,000 square meters of Atlantic Forest, sandbanks and mangroves are in a process of environmental recovery. The Suape Forest Nursery, which supplies saplings for the forest restoration areas, has an annual production capacity of 450,000 saplings of native species, which are used in the reforestation of degraded areas and in environmental offsetting.
The management of the Complex also points out that it provides training for multipliers in the Environmental Education Program, which offers free courses and workshops similar to the United Nations Environment Program. Since 2010, the program has trained more than 3,000 people, among them residents of the surrounding communities of the Complex, teachers, students, staff from the companies installed in Suape and people from neighboring states on topics related to environmental education and sustainable development.
LICENSES – We also clarify that there are no environmental licenses being challenged in court. Indeed, the Operating License (No. 05.16.05.002289-8) for the Port of Suape is in effect and valid until 20 June 2021. All the projects and construction works at the Suape Industrial Port Complex have valid environmental licenses that have been approved by environmental control agencies.
