Transforming the Peninsula: 10 Easy Steps

Península de Maraú Tip- Continent & Bay/above, Ocean/below. (photo Juca)

Friend Neil in So Cal recently asked, "What about traffic (on the Peninsula)?"

"WHAT traffic?", I replied. There is none. Well, crabs, turtles, hawks, Land Rover® 'echo'-tours...

Until 2003, the Peninsula was populated mainly by fishermen, coconut farmers, basic small tradesmen, a few guest houses (pousadas), pioneer types, hermits, mavericks, ne'er-do-wells, outlaws. (There is still neither bank, post office, hospital nor much more...)


But the traffic is on its way. The local population has not a clue, whether good, bad or indifferent. But, "In the Kingdom of the Blind, the one-eyed man..."

Once both highways are completed (State of Bahia N-S Linha Verde ("Green Line") Tourism Highway BR-001 and Federal Peninsula Highway BR-030- watch out!

It will be interesting, at least academically, to watch the circus come to town. Who will lead the parade? Who will trail? Who will win? Who will lose?

Thanks to a privileged 'one-eyedness', an outline of the emerging development surge in Ten Easy Steps........


#1. First high-end developments led the parade:
Kiaroa Resort and federal government honcho Duda Mendonça's tropical palace.
(Completed, 2004)

#2. Developers, hotel chains, real estate investment groups position, bought up remaining large (several hundred to thousands of meters) beach front.
(Completed, 2006)

#3. Construction approvals (hotels, resorts, airport, marinas, ports, sewage treatment in Maraú, electricity, etc)
(2007- )

#4. Highways completed, advanced planning & bids in for new International Airport to be built an hour away
(By 1st quarter, 2008)

#5. Construction begins on #3. Land values soar, social displacement, the Península becomes a "destination"
(2008- )

#6. Highway traffic: Construction materials, surveyors, bureaucrats, workers' and public buses, real estate agents
(2008- )

#7. Construction completed and launch of vastly increased hotel and second home accommodation
(2008-2011)

#8. 'Camp followers' move in: Drug dealers, masseuses, whores, bandits, taxmen, government carpetbaggers
(2008, or the scent of money. Whichever comes first.)

#9. Infrastructure problems: groundwater, electricity, sewage issues, highway maintenance, crime, as local authorities struggle to keep up.
(2010- )

#10. Municipality struggling with the results of relatively unplanned development, environmental degradation, social issues. Corruption, an increasingly expensive 'solution'.
(2010- )



This will be first time I get to watch explosive development early in the cycle. But it can't be hard to guess what will happen, can it?