Bridge over the Oyapock
Coordinates: 3 ° 51'25 " N , 51 ° 49'32" W.
| Bridge over the Oyapock | ||
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| Convicted | Oyapock | |
| place | Oiapoque , Saint-Georges | |
| construction | Cable-stayed bridge | |
| overall length | 378 m | |
| start of building | 2009 | |
| completion | August 2011 (building) | |
| opening | March 2017 | |
| location | ||
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The bridge over the Oyapock ( French Pont sur l'Oyapock , Portuguese Ponte sobre o rio Oiapoque ) is a bridge over the river Oyapock or Oiapoque in northeastern South America. The bridge, completed in 2011, connects French Guiana with Brazil and has been the first official overland border crossing between the French overseas department and other countries since it opened in March 2017 .
The bridge is located 1.6 kilometers northeast of the city of Oiapoque in the Brazilian state of Amapá and 4.4 kilometers southwest of Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock in French Guiana. It is a cable-stayed bridge with two pylons and a total length of 378 meters. The economic importance of the bridge is mainly in the connection of French Guiana with the seaport of Santana near Macapá , the capital of Amapá; in addition there is the symbolic meaning as a connection between the European Union and the South American economic community Mercosur . It also closes one of the remaining gaps on the road link on the northeast coast of South America.
history
In 1997 the presidents of Brazil and France, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Jacques Chirac , decided on the initiative of the then governor of Amapá, João Capiberibe, to build the bridge between the two countries; in the same year a cooperation agreement was signed between French Guiana and Amapá. The first preliminary studies for the construction began in early 2000. The project was presented to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during a visit to France in 2005 and ratified by the parliaments of France and Brazil in 2006 and 2007. In April 2009 the work was awarded to the Brazilian company EGESA-CMT, a consortium of the engineering group Egesa Engenharia from Belo Horizonte with the Consórcio Metropolitano de Transportes (subsidiary responsible for electronic ticketing of the bus transport company Empresa Metropolitana de Transportes Urbanos, which is controlled by the state of São Paulo de São Paulo ). Preparatory work began in July 2009 and work on the actual bridge in November.
Parallel to the construction of the bridge, the access road from Oiapoque to Macapá , the BR-156 national road , is being paved and improved. In March 2011, an approximately 100 kilometer long section was still missing between Calçoene and a point about 70 kilometers south of Oiapoque, which is in poor condition. The breakage of a number of ailing wooden bridges that were overloaded by heavy traffic had led to the town of Oiapoque being completely isolated several times. After the destruction of a bridge on the BR-156 between Macapá and Oiapoque in November 2010 and further incidents, there were also problems with supplying the construction site with material. In addition, there were disagreements about the exact course of the border. The completion date, originally planned for December 2010, was therefore delayed.
According to the agreement between France and Brazil announced for April 2011 and concluded in November 2013, citizens of the two border cities of Saint-Georges and Oiapoque are allowed to stay in the opposite city without a visa from the opening of the bridge as long as they do not take up work.
In August 2011, work on the bridge was completed, according to the French Guiana Development Agency's website. The inauguration of the bridge was delayed because initially there was no access on the Brazilian side and customs issues had not been clarified. After further delays, work on this driveway was resumed in August 2012. After the clarification of visa and insurance issues for Brazilian cars, the bridge was officially opened on March 18, 2017.
Importance and Impact
The main reason for the construction of the bridge is the better connection of French Guiana to world trade. The bridge connects French Guiana and especially the ESA spaceport in Kourou as its most important economic factor, for the first time via a continuous road link with a full-fledged seaport in Santana near Macapá . In French Guiana itself there are only small ports that are not designed for large transport volumes.
Furthermore, the bridge closes a gap in the northern South American cross connection on the northeast coast between Venezuela and Belém and thus the continuous road network in Brazil. However, some gaps still exist, for example there is no bridge over the Amazon so far , which is why a several hundred kilometer long ferry connection in the Amazon delta has to be used between Macapá and Belém. There are further gaps between the border town of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni and Suriname , where there is a regular ferry service, and between Guyana and Venezuela, where a long detour via the Brazilian state of Roraima has so far been necessary.
The increase in child prostitution and other problems in the border region such as smuggling , human trafficking and illegal migration are feared as possible problems ; Furthermore, the city of Oiapoque could become a transit point and thus lose its economic importance.
literature
- Maria Irene de Conte: A ponte sobre o rio Oiapoque: uma ponte 'transoceânica' entre o Brasil ea França; o Mercosul ea União Européia? (PDF file; 2.1 MB), University of São Paulo, April 16, 2008.
Web links
- Website about the bridge at the French Development Agency for French Guiana
- Europe's wild west - the bridge at Oyapock. Film by Albert Knechtel from 2013 in the Arte media library
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Génèse du projet de pont sur l'Oyapock - Historique du projet. ( Memento of the original from August 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Direction Départementale de l'Equipement de la Guyane. (French)
- ↑ Obra rodoviária vai ligar o Amapá à Guiana Francesa. ( Memento of the original from September 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. funcab.org, July 1, 2009 (Portuguese)
- ^ Venda de crianças no Amapá reúne Lula e Sarkozy. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Tribuna do Jurua (offline)
- ^ Ponte quebra novamente e ameaça isolar Oiapoque. ( Memento of the original from March 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Amapá Digital, December 14, 2010. (Portuguese)
- ^ Oyapock River Bridge: Road Intended to Unite France and Brazil Creates Division Instead. The Weather Channel , accessed May 26, 2014 .
- ↑ Governo do Amapá lança obras de acesso à ponte binacional em Oiapoque. correaneto.com.br, August 10, 2012. (Portuguese)
- ↑ First border bridge between the EU and South America opened. FAZ , March 18, 2017, accessed on March 18, 2017 .
- ^ Maria Irene de Conte: A ponte sobre o rio Oiapoque: uma ponte 'transoceânica' entre o Brasil ea França; o Mercosul ea União Européia ?. P. 34
- ↑ José Alberto Tostes, Oscarito Antunes do Nascimento: Oiapoque - “Aqui começa o Brasil”: as interações na area de fronteira e asimplicações da construção da ponte binacional entre o Amapá ea Guiana Francesa. Contribution to the 3rd conference on urban planning in border towns in Foz do Iguaçu 2009 ( Memento from October 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
