Sudene
TheSuperintendency for the Development of the Northeast(Portuguese:Superintendência de Desenvolvimento do Nordeste), orSudene(Portuguese pronunciation:[suˈdẽni]) for short, is a Brazilian governmental agency created in 1959, during the government of PresidentJuscelino Kubitschek(1956-1961), to stimulate economic growth in thenortheasternregion of Brazil, one of the poorest of the country, that faces chronic droughts and has asemi-aridclimate. Sudene was created by suggestion of economistCelso Furtado,one of the leading intellectuals of Brazil, who was the agency's first director.
Premise
[edit]Furtado's premise was that the semi-arid climate of the Northeast was an environmental reality against which it would be very unproductive to fight – despite governmental action to take water to that region – and that state poverty reduction programs should thus aim at using the existing natural advantages of the area – namely, its availability of labor – and promote industrialization instead of the region's traditional economic focus, which was on agriculture and livestock.
Actions
[edit]The agency's first steps were to speed up the construction ofhydroelectricdams in theSão Francisco River,followed by governmental incentives for the creation of heavy industry projects, such as theCamaçariPetrochemical Complex, in the state ofBahia,and the industrial district of Aratu, in the metropolitan area ofSalvador.Sudene is also responsible for the formation of intermediary products industries: fertilizers production in the state ofSergipeand a chemicals complex in Salgema, state ofAlagoas.In the state ofPernambuco,investments concentrated on the metropolitan area of the city ofRecife,with durable goods industries being created in the cities of Jaboatão, Cabo and Paulista. In the state ofCeará,a new perspective was adopted: Sudene's incentives helped form a textiles industrial area, around the capital of the state,Fortaleza.
In 1999, Sudene was involved in corruption scandals which led PresidentFernando Henrique Cardoso(1994-2002) to decree its dissolution. In 2002, however, the agency was recreated with the name of Adene - Agency for the Development of the Northeast.
References
[edit]The process of industrialization in Recife, Brazil -https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00845198
