São Paulo City Council approved bill facilitating the extension of the Pinheiros expressway

On Tuesday, the 20th, the São Paulo City Council approved a bill that changes the zoning around the Jurubatuba River, in the South zone, and that will facilitate the extension of the “Marginal do Pinheiros” in the region. After 44 votes in favor and six against, the PL will proceed to the sanction of Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB).

The first approval was on Wednesday, the 14th, the date the project was presented. As a result, the text was approved in just six days. After a claim by councilors, the leader of the government in the Chamber, councilor Fabio Riva (PSDB), says that the article that increased the constructive potential for the region was removed from the project.

The initial text allowed, for example, the construction of buildings with no height limit. “A part was removed from the text that said about zoning, mainly the issues of the utilization coefficient and the height gauge.”

The original project was by councilor Paulo Frange (PTB) with a substitute text from the Constitution, Justice and Participatory Legislation Commission, inserted at the request of the City Hall. By adding to the text, road interventions were inserted in an eight kilometer stretch of the right bank of the Marginal.

The works will be carried out between the João Dias Road Complex and the Vitorino Goulart da Silva Bridge. Initially budgeted at R$850 million, the work covers public areas, avoiding the need for expropriations.

According to the bill, the extension of the Marginal should be done in areas close to medium and high capacity public transport systems, such as train, subway and monorail lines, VLT (Light Vehicles on Rail) and VLP (Light Vehicles on Tires). Frange believes that the works can start in 2023, but highlighted the need for infrastructure actions.

“We need, along this Marginal, social housing buildings, housing that is not social housing, companies, hospital buildings and hotels. It is a very noble area of the city.”

The new waterfront also involves permanent preservation areas (APP), which may undergo intervention with authorization from the Municipal Secretariat for Green and the Environment.

The future work will need to undergo environmental impact studies and obtain authorizations for the suppression of vegetation. According to the document, the removal of 285 “arboreal individuals” from a total area of 185,500 m² is planned.

Part of urban planners and environmental activists criticize the urbanization of one of the few riverbanks in the city that still has partially natural characteristics.

“An urban intervention project in the region should try to reverse the paradigm of real estate development in a place marked by social and environmental vulnerability, mainly on the banks of the Billings and Guarapiranga dams. The approved project consolidates the predatory tendency for the region and signals a dispute for value of the land, favoring real estate development. We are going to witness a process of expulsion of the people who live there,” says architect Carolina Heldt D’Almeida, professor at Escola da Cidade and at the Federal Institute of São Paulo.

Among the councillors, some highlighted the need for environmental compensation. “The project will allow the construction of large enterprises and road expansion, in an area close to the transport axes, which generates fluidity for the city but we need to be careful. I hope that the change is made with the necessary environmental responsibility and respecting the counterparts discussed which includes the construction of a linear park,” evaluates councilor Cris Monteiro (Novo).

The six votes against the project were registered by the PSOL group. For councilor Luana Alves (PSOL), the matter should be included in a PDE proposal (Strategic Master Plan) and not in a Bill. The “jet speed” voting was also criticized by parliamentarians.

“In practice, it is an extension of the Marginal Pinheiros towards the Jurubatuba River after the Transamerica Bridge towards Avenida Guido Caloi. But this perimeter belongs to the PIU Jurubatuba, which is sub judice. It is a project that runs the risk of falling into court,” Luana Alves said.

The City Hall prepared an Urban Intervention Project (PIU) Arco Jurubatuba, in 2018, but the text is stalled in the Chamber after being challenged in court. This PIU alone should yield at least R$8 billion from the sale of real estate securities.

The extension of Marginal do Pinheiros is a old promise tiga for the more than 2.3 million residents of the subprefectures of Campo Limpo, Capela do Socorro, Cidade Ademar, M’Boi Mirim and Parelheiros, already in the extreme south zone.

WHAT THE CITY AND COUNCIL SAY

In a note to Estadão, SP Urbanismo informs that the “extension of Marginal Pinheiros is a public utility project, as it aims to expand access and improve road circulation in the south of the city.”

The municipal power also highlighted the observation of environmental legislation. “For the implementation of the new structural route, it will be necessary to intervene in an area demarcated as Special Environmental Protection Zone (ZEPAM), which represents 5% of the total perimeter. All aspects of preservation, mitigation and environmental compensation must be observed during the environmental licensing of undertakings.”

The Municipal Secretariat for Urban Infrastructure and Works also points out that the management of tree vegetation will not be very expressive, considering that there is a predominance of low vegetation or small individuals in the area. In the APP (Permanent Preservation Area) the suppression of 285 individuals is foreseen, in an area of 185,535.01 m². There is also no relevant trees in the perimeter, with significant vegetation (according to State Decree 30.443 of September 20, 1989). No springs were found at the site.

Asked about the speed with which the project was processed, which lasted less than a week, the Chamber of São Paulo informed that “the project followed all the legal rites, including two public hearings. The process and speed of processing are collectively negotiated, among party leaders.”

With information from Exame

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