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PIRACICABA RIVER, WATERWAY TO DEVELOPMENT

More than 200 years ago, explorers, settlers, and travelers with boatsloaded with food and guns sailed along the rivers Piracicaba, Tietê and Paraná to the borders of Brazil and Paraguay. Piracicaba was founded as a settlement to provide food and shelter to these travelers. The Portuguese rulers wanted the city to be on the mouth of the Piracicaba river but the captain in charge of the city foundation chose the area of the falls, on the right side of the river. Though located in a privileged area, the Portuguese captain's decision kept the city excluded from the main routes and later from the main highways that crossed the state.

After 229 years, the same river that made the foundation of Piracicaba possible, became the city's gateway to development and progress, integrating the city into the Tietê-Paraná waterway. A railway connects Piracicaba to the Port of Santos and to the petrochemical area of Paulínia. The port of Artemis will be the starting gate to the South America Common Market (Mercosul).

Tietê-Paraná Waterway

After the second world war, the State of São Paulo started building the Tietê dam to generate electricity. The 1.6 billion dollar government plan included the building of locks in the Tietê and Paraná rivers - a long-term government investment and the only locks built in Brazil.

In 1991, with the opening of the Nova Avanhandava dam, the waterway was used commercially. At the same time the Common South American Market (Mercosul) became reality. The future prospects of the waterway then included a connection to Argentine, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Within Brazil, this 1,500 mile waterway from Conchas to Itaipu will carry 12 million tons of cargo, running through 170 million acres (8.2% of the Brazilian territory) and changing the lives of 300 cities and 50 million people.

The first studies of the waterway were made in 1977 by Portobrás. In 1983 three option were possible: the mouth of the Corumbataí River located 4.5 km away from the city of Piracicaba, the city of Artemis located 14.5 km away, and the Sorocabano site distant 24.5 km from Piracicaba. All the options were favorable to the city of Piracicaba.

From 1983 to 1992 the projects were put aside. In 1993 local government studies showed the Port of Artemis as the most logical connection between the Tietê-Paraná waterway and the Port of Santos. This proposal was accepted by the State and was technically analyzed at the First International Seminar of the Tietê-Paraná Waterway Development Program, which took place in New Orleans, USA, in April 1993, attended by state officials, Cesp, investors from Brazil and abroad.

In May, 1995, the State governor Mario Covas, Cesp and Piracicaba Mayor, Antonio Carlos de Mendes Thame, signed a protocol for the implementation of a waterway Development Plan for the Valley of Piracicaba.