Hopeful Progress in Brazil's Slums

Redeveloping the slums of Rio de Janeiro has been on the city's agenda for decades. Despite the many challenges, some new efforts seem to be paying off.

August 11, 2010, 5am PDT | Nate Berg

"Sao Paulo government resettled 120 poor families to at the outskirts of the city in 1971. And unexpectedly this area fast became a colony of migrant persons. More and more wooden houses form a 100-square-meter slum with 125,000 living there. Since 2005, the Sao Paulo government has invested 135 million Real (about 76.7 million US dollars) to reconstruct the district.

They built municipal infrastructures, public schools and hospitals. Some roads are even paved with asphalt. Around 1,700 low-cost houses benefited many poor families. The mayor of Sao Paulo Gilberto Kassab said 'this district is no longer a slum but a well-organized city community.'"

And as the city prepares to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, officials at the local and federal level are hoping to make big strides in reducing extreme poverty in this and other urban areas within the decade.

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Brazil struggles to transform slums into new communities

Published on Wednesday, August 4, 2010 in People's Daily