Summary of the Request

Mr. Mauricio Gomes de Souza, a resident of the Jardim Itatinga Residential Condominium (the Requester) alleged possible adverse environmental and social impacts related to the construction of the Northern Section of the Rodoanel Mário Covas Project in São Paulo, Brazil. Among the allegations, the Requester pointed out that the route selected for the construction of the highway will cut through environmental protected areas, i.e. the Buffer Zone of the Cantareira State Park and Green Belt Biosphere Reserve of the City of São Paulo. In addition, the Requester claimed that his family and other residents of the area would be directly affected by the Project, mainly, by i) noise and other types of pollution; (ii) loss of property value and potential resettlement of some families; and (iii) damage to the physical structure of their homes.

MICI actions

The Assessment report concluded that conditions were not amenable to continue with a dialogue process for the following reasons: (a) a majority of the Jardim Itatinga’s residents had not expressly stated their willingness to engage in a dialogue process; (b) trust between the Requesters and the Executing Agency was severely deteriorated; and (c) the pre-condition set by the Requester for initiating the Dialogue process, i.e. to halt the operation could not be guaranteed by the ICIM.

The Consultation Phase was therefore concluded in September 2012 and the case transferred to the Compliance Review Phase as decided by the Requesters.

Upon declaring eligible BR-MICI005-2011 in 2012, the Panel determined that it was in the best interest of the Requesters and of the Bank that the Request BR-MICI005-2011 be consolidated with BR-MICI003-2011 and treated as one case for purposes of conducting a Compliance Review by the Panel. Therefore, information regarding this matter can be found on this Public Registry in case BR-MICI003-2011.