International call for tenders, deadline 9th May, 2007 for civil works, installation, assembly, testing and commissioning of E&M equipment as part of the first stage of the Sao Francisco River inter-basin transfer project in the states of Pernambuco, Ceara, Paraiba and Rio Grande do Norte. The project includes a north axis and an east axis, representing a conveyance system of 722 km, whereof 591 km of canals, 20 km of pipelines, 51.6 km of tunnels (15 tunnels), and 26 reservoirs. Lot A includes the 726 m Angico tunnel and the 1,512 m Milagres tunnel. Lot B includes the 15,257 m Cuncas I tunnel, and the 4,015 m Cuncas II tunnel. Lot D includes the 6,489 m Monteiro tunnel. Lot E includes the 800 m Cacimba da Mata tunnel, the 1,200 m Bom Nome tunnel, the 1,200 m Cachoeira tunnel, the 900 m Tigre tunnel, the 2,500 m Ipojuca I tunnel, and the 10,000 m Ipojuca II tunnel. Lot F includes the 310 m Tambor tunnel, the 5,735 m Major Sales tunnel, the 500 m Diamantina tunnel, and the 480 m Javaris tunnel. The engineering firm that designed the tunnels is Engecorps. The required investment in 1999 dollars is USD1.49 billion. Contact Ministério da Integraí§í£o Nacional, Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco E, sala 896/898, Plano Piloto, Brasilia (DF). Tel. +55 6134145567, fax +55 6134145566. 14/07.International call for tenders, deadline 25th April, 2007 for supervision, technical assistance and technological control as part of the civil works, installation, assembly, testing and commissioning of E&M equipment within the first stage of the Sao Francisco River inter-basin transfer project in the states of Pernambuco, Ceara, Paraiba and Rio Grande do Norte. Contact Ministério da Integraí§í£o Nacional, Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco E, sala 896/898, Plano Piloto, Brasilia (DF). Tel. +55 6134145567, fax +55 6134145566. 14/07.Brazilian consortium íguas do Sí£o Francisco, formed by the companies Carioca Christiani Nielsen Engenharia, Serveng Civilsan and SA Paulista, won the bidding for the first lot of works on the Sí£o Francisco river diversion project. The winning proposal was for BRL239 million. The contract was signed on 31st December and the consortium is due to start the works on the northern axis in January. Lot 1 stretches for 39,128 metres and includes the 726 m Angico tunnel and the 1,512 m Milagres tunnel. Visit www.cariocaengenharia.com.br and www.sapaulista.com.brBrazil's army corps of engineers has restarted works on the project this month. Since June, the army has been working on building a dam and two canals to transport river waters to pumping stations near Cabrobí³ municipality in Pernambuco state. However, the regional federal court had halted works on 10th December, as requested by the public prosecutor's office, which cited supposed irregularities in the national water council's original approval of the process. The federal supreme court ruled that going ahead with the project now would not cause irreversible environmental damage. The decision, however, only allows work to go ahead until the supreme court can judge the merits of the case at a date yet to be set. The project involves moving the Sí£o Francisco river, South America's fourth biggest, in the northern arid states of Pernambuco, Cearí¡, Paraí­ba and Rio Grande do Norte where water is to be used above all for sugar-cane and fruit plantations, prawn farms and the steel industry in the area of Fortaleza. It involves the construction of two canals, running north and east, with together a length of 722 km, nine large pumping plants and 51.6 km of tunnels. Click here. Read E-News Weekly 4/2008 for more. Visit www.mi.gov.br/saofrancisco 04/08.