Irrigation Perimeter of Baixio do Irecê/BA

closed

The Baixio de Irecê Project (“PBI”) is considered the largest irrigation project in Brazil, with a total planned irrigated area of 48,000 hectares. It is located on the right bank of the São Francisco River, north of the Médio São Francisco region, in the municipalities of Xique-Xique/BA and Itaguaçu da Bahia/BA, central region of the State of Bahia. The closest capital to PBI is Salvador, 500 km away. The Project was designed to explore irrigated agriculture, based on tropical fruit growing for domestic and foreign markets, already practiced intensely in the middle São Francisco region. Access to the Project area is mainly via the BA-052 highway, which connects Xique-Xique to Feira de Santana, then connecting to the national road network via BR-116. The existing connection between the project's starting point (water intake on the São Francisco River) and the city of Xique-Xique is via an unpaved local road, measuring approximately 40 km. Stages 1 and 2 of the project were tendered in 2014 under the Concession of Real Right of Use (CDRU) model, totaling an irrigable area of 16,501 hectares, distributed in 203 parcel units. To date, 968 million reais have been invested in the implementation of these stages, highlighting the construction of a pumping station with 10.6m3/s, the construction of 42 km of the main channel, two pressurization stations, five booster lifts and collecting drainage. The partnership with the private sector envisages the completion of the implementation of the irrigation infrastructure, including the construction of canals, pumping stations and related works, the operation and maintenance of this infrastructure and the occupation of the irrigable area from Stages 3 to 9 (31,500 hectares) with agricultural production for a period of 35 years. The partnership also provides that, once the obligations to implement irrigation infrastructure and occupy areas with agricultural production within the technical specifications and deadlines have been met, the concessionaire will have the right to request the transfer of ownership of the area. The project was qualified in the PPI through Resolution No. 97, of November 19, 2019, which gave rise to Decree No. 10,355, of May 20, 2020.