Maranhão e os grandes projetos: desdobramentos do desenvolvimento local no eixo da Estrada de Ferro Carajás

Abstract

The research problematizes Local Development in Maranhão from the emergency context of the Grande Carajás Program and the implementation of the Carajás Railway. It is worth highlighting the economic power of the company Vale and the set of socio-environmental impacts resulting from the operation of the railway as a counterpoint to the prevailing view imposed by economic globalization that the local scale would be the ideal synergistic and strategic environment for resolving conflicts and reaching satisfactory responses to socioeconomic inequalities. This perspective considers the business segments as fundamental to stimulate the so called Local Development, while relativizing the importance of the State in mediating interests between the local and the global. The qualitative research was built through the rescue of the historical panorama that portrays the implementation and execution of Major Projects in Maranhão. Analyzes were made of Vale's sustainability reports to demarcate the concept of Local Development from the company's perspective, as well as interviews with residents who live near the Carajás Railway, in order to draw a comparison between the business proposals and the reality experienced by the most impoverished segments that live on the banks of the Railway. It is concluded that the local scale has reflected both the historical effects of ineffective ventures to the productive dynamism of the territory, as well as has been used by Vale to promote social control strategies for the benefit of the company through compensatory actions aimed at the communities impacted by the railroad. The research also points out the limits of the use of the HDI-M as an indicator of measuring development in areas of conflict between populations and large enterprises.