Barigui Park Adds 210,000 Square Metres
The Barigui Linear Park, one of the Viva Barigui programme’s goals, is to go through another stage of consolidation. The City Council has incorporated a further 210,000 square-metre area in two sections, thus permitting the recovery and preservation of approximately 2.526 kilometres of riverbank, in a strip ranging from 20 to 50 metres wide.
The linear park will link existing parks, woodlands and recreational areas with new, soon to be implanted conservation areas, thus forming a corridor of biodiversity and infrastructure on the Barigui River.
The Viva Barigui programme, launched in 2007, aims to reverse the degradation of the river basin; adopting measures to preserve springs, conserve natural environments still existent in the region; and organise the areas illegally occupied along the riverbanks which, accompanied by the recuperation of the native vegetation will, consequently, improve water quality in the basin.
“It is a sequence of medium and long term projects and tasks, following a strategic plan for the recovery of the city’s largest watershed,” said Mayor Luciano Ducci.
In both places, one in Fazendinha and the other in CIC, areas were incorporated into the municipal portfolio through various legal means, such as the payment of debts owed to the council, the reallocation of building rights, the relocation of families in areas of invasion, and compulsory purchases.
Later this year, the installation of leisure facilities and environmental recovery projects in the two new stretches of the linear park will be put out for bidding. Part of the funds for the work, about R$19 million, is in the investment package negotiated by the city with the French Development Agency.
In Fazendinha, the new section of the linear park will have 120,000 square metres, extending along the riverbank from Dionis Klemtz Street to Cambui Park. In this section, a large recreational area will be added adjacent to Fazendinha Wood.
Among the facilities to be provided are a walking track, sports courts, playground, lighting, and the restoration of riverside vegetation with native species. “The infrastructure for public use helps the population to take ownership of space in an orderly manner and helps prevent misuse,” stated the Municipal Secretary of Environment, José Antonio Andreguetto.
The second section of the Barigui Linear Park runs from Senador Salgado Filho Avenue, near the South Ring Road, to João Bettega Street, on both sides of the river a total of 90,000 square metres. Along this stretch, as well as incorporating areas, the City will revitalise the Mane Garrincha leisure area, lay a shared pedestrian and bicycle track on both sides of the margin, and plant native vegetation.
In 2011-12, the City forecasts the incorporation of yet another 90,000 square metres of area to the Barigui Linear Park in the regions of Mossungue, CIC, Santa Quiteria, Seminario and Fazendinha. “It’s a process that has been developed through careful planning, in which the City prioritises investments and joint actions,” said Secretary Andreguetto.
Relocation
The second section includes part of Vila Nova Barigui, a former squatter site from where the Municipality, through the Housing Company of Curitiba (COHAB), moved 150 families living in dangerous conditions on the riverbank to brick-built townhouses on the Aquarela housing estate in the same region.
The relocation of families from illegally occupied areas is one of the components that make up the Viva Barigui programme, coordinated by Cohab and the Municipal Secretariat for the Environment, which aims to recover the river’s permanent preservation area and operates in 13 neighbourhoods. It has transferred a total of 807 families.
General Information:
- Barigui River is 60 kilometres long. It rises in Almirante Tamandare, 15 km from Curitiba, and wends its way across the state capital before flowing into the Iguaçu River on the border with Araucaria. 45 km of its course are in Curitiba.
- In Curitiba, the Barigui’s basin covers an area of 144 square kilometres in 25 of the City’s 75 neighbourhoods.
- 30% (457,571 inhabitants) of Curitiba’s population live along the Barigui basin.
- Barigui River’s main tributaries are the Uvu, Ribeirao dos Miller, Campo Comprido, Vila Formosa, Cascatinha, Ribeirao do Franca and Campo de Santana rivers, as well as the Vista Alegre stream and the Pulador and Andrade brooks.
