The Minister of Transport, Renan Filho, announced this Monday (23) that the federal government will allocate more than R$100 million for the recovery and removal of rubble from the Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira bridge, which fell this Sunday (22), on the border between the states of Maranhão and Tocantins. The minister flew over the area of the accident and declared an emergency in the region.
“We have all the technical conditions for reconstruction and the necessary technical resources for reconstruction so that this work can be carried out in terms of not only reconstruction, but also the removal of rubble, assessment of damage caused, monitoring of the work and execution of future works. We will rebuild a bridge with all safety guarantee items”, he stated.
Yesterday (22), the central span of the bridge, 533 meters long, gave way, collapsing at least 10 vehicles, including four trucks, three passenger vehicles and three motorcycles. According to Estreito Civil Defense, To date, 16 people are missing. One died and one remains hospitalized.
Teams from the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Dnit) are evaluating the situation and investigating the possible causes to “take the necessary measures”, informed the minister.
According to the minister, the department is working to have the resources released this year. “With the emergency declared, we want to contract the reconstruction of the bridge within the 2024 financial year. This will be a very resolute task for the ministry”, he added.