Lula Announces Over R$5 Billion for Rio Projects at Caravana Federativa

Overview

• At a Caravana Federativa event in Niterói, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva backed a BNDES plan to mobilize more than R$5 billion for sanitation, health, urban works, climate adaptation and income programs across Rio state.
• About R$1 billion will go to Águas do Rio to cut water loss and expand sewage collection and treatment in nine municipalities, including works reaching 16 communities and 200,000 residents in the Complexo da Maré.
• In health, the government highlighted a planned R$2 billion expansion of the new National Cancer Institute (INCA) campus along with support for a hospital in the state interior, plus deliveries of 12 mobile dental units, 15 equipment kits and 56 SAMU ambulances, and five specialist-care agreements totaling R$31 million.
• BNDES also approved financing for urban infrastructure and climate projects in Maricá and for environmental works in Niterói, including a new park and sustainable drainage areas designed to reduce flood risk.
• Before the Niterói agenda, Lula met acting governor Ricardo Couto to discuss a request to renegotiate Rio’s debt with the federal government as the state projects a R$19 billion deficit for 2026, with talks still underway.