Mayor in Ceará Town Exchanges Carnaval for Funding Affordable Homes

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The mayor of the city of Granja, Ceará, has said she canceled the funds for the 2020 carnival and will instead use the money to build and donate 52 low-income housing to residents of risk areas, according to a social pre-register held last year.

Mayor Amanda Aldigueri’s decision pleased many (although some revelers do not like it) since the city has suffered from heavy rainfall. Granja is the municipality where it rains the most in Ceará and has already accumulated over 300 millimeters this year.

Since the beginning of January, the machines are working to recover the streams, rivers, creeks, drains, and bridges.

The concern was heightened after the Ceará Meteorology and Water Resources Foundation announced that, as of the last week of January and until February 20th, heavy downpours should reach the state.

The city is an example of the adequate spending of public money, and 2nd place in the ranking released by the SUDENE (Superintendence of Development of the Northeast), which rewards municipalities for the quality of spending of financial resources.

The city of Granja has 52,645 inhabitants according to the last census and occupies the first places in educational effectiveness with nine of the ten best schools in the reading index covering all of Brazil.

The municipality has 59 schools with a score of ten and has climbed 80 positions (from 183rd, penultimate place in the state, to 64th) in the Municipal Development Index (IDM) as measured by IPECE.