GDF insists on building hotels in the 901 North area.

Naira Trindade_ Brasília147 – The government of the Federal District is moving forward with its intention to expand the hotel sector to Block 901 North. Not even a petition signed by 139 architects and urban planners from Brasília discouraged the Secretary of Urban Development and Housing (Sedhab), Geraldo Magela, from sending the construction proposal for the area to the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan) for evaluation. However, changing the block's intended use is not foreseen in the Preservation Plan for the Urban Complex of Brasília (PPCUB), discussed this Saturday in the Legislative Chamber.

The government's intention is to build a complex of buildings that will include hotels, shopping malls, restaurants, and leisure areas on an 85-square-meter plot of land in the heart of Brasília, originally intended for schools, churches, educational institutions, and health facilities. The suggestion is to change Brasília's Building Height Regulations, which currently limit the maximum height of buildings in the area to 9,5 meters, to 45 meters. This would allow companies that purchase the land – valued at R$700 million – to construct buildings of up to 15 stories.

In the five pages of the manifesto, architects and urban planners base their opposing arguments on building height regulations and the federal law governing the preservation of Brasília. They show that the government's insistence on continuing the project causes the "disfigurement of the central area of ​​the Pilot Plan by breaking the symmetry between the central south and north sectors and by exceeding the geometric limits of the central north sector."

Iphan's technicians are studying the proposal to analyze the impacts and the possibilities of the government proceeding with the sale of the land. Superintendent Alfredo Gastal only guarantees that he will not allow the area to be transformed into housing. "I agree with the urban planners' manifesto that it cannot become a slum, but Block 901 also cannot be a mediocre block as the original proposal envisions."

If the proposal to increase the building height limit in the area is authorized by Iphan (National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage), the group of architects opposed to the expansion of the hotel sector intends to take legal action. Laila Mendonça, a member of the Urban Planners for Brasília Movement, explains that the proposal jeopardizes the protected status of the site and violates Ordinance 314/92, a federal law that defines the parameters for occupancy in the area. "If Iphan agrees with this aggression, we will call into question the agency's ability to defend historical heritage."

“If Iphan authorizes the government's proposal, it will have to answer for its irresponsibility because it will not be fulfilling its role,” argues architect Tânia Batella, from the Forum of Environmental NGOs of the Federal District. She also emphasizes that the proposal to occupy the 901 North area was not presented at the PPCUB public hearing this Saturday, an event aimed at discussing with the community the main points for the conservation of Brasília's historical heritage.

Heritage

The change in the intended use of block 901 North was proposed by then-governor José Roberto Arruda, whose vice-governor was one of Brasília's biggest real estate developers, Paulo Octávio, and who maintained close and constant relationships with the owners of two other construction companies: Via Engenharia and JC Gontijo. The idea that the prime area, in the city center, would be sold by Terracap to the construction companies for around R$ 700 million was inherited by Governor Agnelo Queiroz. This money would be used to build the new stadium.

Construction companies would erect towers of more than 20 stories, housing hotels, offices, and shopping centers, in the style of 21st-century Brazil, but in a much larger area. Most of the hotels, in fact, would be converted into apartments disguised as apart-hotels, thus creating a new residential area in Brasília – as ended up happening on the shore of the lake between L-4 and the Alvorada Palace.

The investment by construction companies would thus be highly profitable, and the then-governor would be duly rewarded by the benefited contractors, in the pattern revealed by Operation Pandora's Box. Furthermore, Via Engenharia – whose owner is still one of Arruda's closest friends – is one of the two companies building the new stadium (the other is Andrade Gutierrez). In the real estate market, the prevailing opinion is that the largest share of the area to be sold in a bidding process by Terracap will be purchased by JC Gontijo, which reportedly already has the designs for the towers.