Present And Proposed Infrastructure
Economy
Edward Finney
23 Oct 2008
João Pessoa, the easternmost city in Brazil on the northeast coast, is growing rapidly after years of being ignored. For the astute investor, there is still much opportunity here.
The population of João Pessoa is about 700,000 people and increasing daily. The city government struggling to keep up with the demands of electric, water, sewage, roads and bridges. The airport was recently upgraded into a small but first class international facility. The north and south highway that passes João Pessoa is being made into a double lane highway from Recife to Fortaleza (about a 12 hour drive) and should be completed next year. The seaport of João Pessoa (Cabedelo) is soon to be dredged after years of neglect to receive more international and coast wise trade. Overpasses have been completed and more to be built to facilitate the flow of traffic. It has been an amazing task and an enormous amount of investment but with the booming Brazilian economy the federal government has had the capability to provide the financing.
The bairro of Bessa Beach, one of the rapidly developing areas, has seen dozens of new high rises built in the last 10 years. Unfortunately, the infrastructure there has not keep up with demand but in the next year or two it should and the property values will rise considerably. The lack of paved roads and drainage are the big problems in this growing beach area. As the older and higher priced beach front areas like Cabo Branco, Tambaú and Manaira are maturing, the Bessa area is still open for development and improvement and withing a few years will be another premium beach area to live.
One of the biggest infrastructure problems is traffic flow from center city to the beach areas about 5 KM away. There are presently about 1 car per 4 inhabitants in João Pessoa, much less than in simular sized cities but the popularity of the beach area for residence and pleasure has overburdened the access roads to the area. There are only 3 main access roads between the center and the beach and during rush hours they can become overtaxed with cars, buses and trucks. Recently, one of the roads (Beira Rio) in the south area started reconstruction and soon will be open to increased traffic greatly relieving the pressure on the central artery of Rua Epitacio Pessoa. Plans are being made to make the beach are more accessible and there is discussion of new roads, light rail, and special bus routes. I believe within the next few months a decision will be made as how to best improve this problem and traffic will again flow freely.
Some of the outer bairros have growing problems but they are not of interest to the visitor or potential residents. The magnificant beach bairros are the areas that potential investors will be interested in. There, except for Bessa Beach there are no infrastructure problems of importance. For a city of this size and beauty, infrastructure is not of major concern. The main concern is which one of the beautiful beaches to live on.
