Projeto Costa Oeste Impact Assessment: Analysis and Recommendations for Associacao dos Moradores do Litoral Oeste

Abstract

This paper examines an infrastructure road project in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil, within the local context of a small favela, Colonia. This road project, called Projeto Costa Oeste, has a dual purpose of development and increased transportation. This project is done for my client, a local NGO called Associacao dos Moradores do Litoral Oeste (AMLO) and seeks to provide recommendations so that the NGO can work to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs. This paper draws on fieldwork and a wide body of literature in developmental economics, political participation, transportation, road impacts and environmental impact. After outlining these possible and perceived impacts, it assesses Costa Oeste’s viability, desirability and effectiveness. The primary finding is that neighborhood residents are unable to realize the attendant rise in property values assocastio4ed with Costa Oeste due to their insecure property rights regime. Therefore, the two primary recommendations to my client are, first, a house registration drive kin which residents take advantage of a Brazilian legal mechanism for registering a house that has been built in a favela such as Colônia. The second recommendation is for AMLO to consolidate the numerous associations working for social change in the neighborhood, thereby focusing their efforts and amplifying their resources.