January 7, 2022

11:01

Marcela Leiros – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Brazil may gain a new state with the Para municipality of Santarém as its capital. The Legislative Decree Project (PDL) No. 508/2019 is currently in progress in the Federal Senate, which, if approved, will call for a plebiscite on the creation of the State of Tapajós. This is yet another project that aims to separate the State of Pará, thus creating the 28th Federal Unit (UF) of the country.

Pará has 144 municipalities and the creation of Tapajós would occur by dismembering 23 of them: Alenquer, Almeirim, Aveiro, Belterra, Brasil Novo, Curuá, Faro, Itaituba, Jacareacanga, Juruti, Medicilândia, Mojuí dos Campos, Monte Alegre, Novo Progresso, Óbidos, Oriximiná, Placas, Prainha, Rurópolis, Santarém, Terra Santa, Trairão and Uruará.

The new state should occupy 43.15% of the current territory of Pará, totaling 538,049 thousand km². It should be located in the West region, with 15% of the population of Pará, equivalent to two million inhabitants. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to be almost R$6.5 billion, also represented by eight federal lawmakers, 24 state lawmakers and three senators.

The Legislative Decree Project (PDL) No. 508/2019 was filed on August 13, 2019. The last legislative move to create the UF occurred in November last year, when it was put on the agenda of the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ), but the vote was postponed after a request for more time by Senator Jader Barbalho (MDB-PA), father of Pará governor Helder Barbalho (MDB). The rapporteur of the project is Senator Plínio Valério (PSDB-AM).

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Plebiscite in Pará

The dispute over the division of the state began effectively as a project still in the 1990s, for the formation of two more states: Tapajós and Carajás. In 2011, the first plebiscite was held on the topic, but 66.08% rejected the creation of the state of Tapajós and 66.59% said “no” to the creation of the state of Carajás.

Despite the counting of votes in the state showing that 66.08% of Pará people rejected the proposal to divide the territory into three states in 2011, the regions where the states Tapajós and Carajás would be indicated the division, having expressive votes for “yes” in the cities of Santarém and Marabá, respective capitals of the new states.

“In 2011, the population of the municipalities that would make up the State of Tapajós unequivocally expressed their desire for emancipation from Pará. After ten years and maintained the desire to separate, it is time to once again to consult them”, says an excerpt of the PDL No. 508/2019.

See the full text of the Legislative Decree Project (PDL) n° 508/2019: