Born in the Sepetiba district of Rio de Janeiro 75 years ago, the retired upholsterer Derci da Silva used to play soccer on the beach with his friends as a teen. He mourns the decline of that area, which was once a favorite getaway for local families and people from other neighborhoods. “Many vacationers had a holiday or weekend home in Sepetiba. When the quality of the beach was lost, they stopped coming. The result was a sharp drop in real-estate values and a blow to local commerce.” So far, Derci’s words are steeped in gloom, but he goes on to express great expectations: “I hope that once the beach is back to what it was before, all this will change,” he says.

Located in the Western Zone of Rio de Janeiro, at the end of Sepetiba Bay, the eponymous district has 40,000 inhabitants. Even Brazil’s royal family used to visit it in the early nineteenth century, before its beaches lost their lushness in the mid-twentieth century due to the constant accumulation of silt brought in by the tide.

In May, Odebrecht Infraestrutura teams launched the Environmental Rehabilitation of Sepetiba Beach project, an initiative of the Rio de Janeiro State Department of the Environment, which is restoring that strip of sand. It is a long-held dream for local residents.

Carried out by 150 Odebrecht members, the first stage of the project is to clean up the layer of silt, which involves removing debris and solid materials. The remainder will be covered with a permeable geotextile that allows water and gases to flow through. Fresh sand will be obtained from an underwater deposit in the bay, 7.5 km from the beach, and brought in by two dredgers thath will pump it onto the shore.

The new strip of sand, which will be up to 400 m wide, will be reserved for leisure and sports, thereby contributing to the growth of new businesses focused on providing services to residents and visitors.

The silt deposits on that part of the beach have produced typical mangrove plant life (Rhizophora, Laguncularia and Avicennia) and a type of crab known as chama-maré. Therefore, before placing the geotextile, as its first mission, the company will collect and relocate 525,000 seedlings of local plants and about 780,000 crabs.

“The seedlings are being transplanted on Fundão Island in Guanabara Bay, where the State Department of Environment, our client, is restoring the Cunha Channel by replanting the area with its original mangrove vegetation,” says Odebrecht Project Director Marcos Teixeira. “The crabs’ new home is a beach on the Santa Cruz Air Base, in an adjacent district,” he adds.

Shooting the telenovela in Sepetiba

The restoration project is slated for completion within a year. The Sepetiba community sees it as a watershed initiative that will usher in a new era for their neighborhood. “Especially for local businesses, which have suffered due to the economic stagnation of recent years,” said Paulo Eduardo Dias Sampaio, President of the Artisanal Fishermen’s Association of Sepetiba (Apas), who adds this observation: “Commerce really needs to recover, but it is important for fishermen to build a pier where they can unload their fish and a ramp for boat repairs and maintenance.” There are indeed great expectations in Sepetiba.