Our "Snow Fall"?

Folha de S. Paulo launched yesterday a series of stories that try to grasp the whole magnitude of one of the most controversial infrastructure constructions in Brazil's history: the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant. That is the first example of news story that I could find in Brazilian media that is completely inspired in the Snow Fall project by the New York Times. Texts, amazing infographics and even a game help the reader to grasp the magnitude of the project that took 10 months and the work of five reporters to be completed.

Folha hasn't mentioned whether it is going to be also published as an e-book when the series of stories comes to an end, similarly to what happened to NYT's Snow Fall (the story of an avalanche on Washington state), but it is likely that the newspaper try to do that, since the both projects bare great similarity -- just compare Snow Fall's site (http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/#/?part=tunnel-creek) with a Batalha de Belo Monte (http://arte.folha.uol.com.br/especiais/2013/12/16/belo-monte/) and see it for yourself.

In the first text, Folha is basically stating some known figures about the project, starting with the amazing dimension of what it is about to be the third biggest hydroelectric plant, after The Three Gorges Dam in China and Itaipu in Brazil. The project of the plant was initiated in 1975 and was surrounded with conflict from the beginning. Located near an indian territory, the project was changed several times, until the main reservoir was reduced considerably and an additional dam was included.

The first energy generated from Belo Monte should be delivered to Brazil domestic market in the beginning of 2015. After incredibly just 44 months of construction under the Amazon tropical weather and its implications. The engineers believe the project can have a three month delay on account of a worker's strike, local indian protests, and a stoppage determined by the court. Let's see what is reserved for the next chapters.