Disregarding revelations of systemic political corruption in Brazil's hydropower sector, President Dilma Rousseff is ploughing ahead with a cascade of giant dams on the mighty Tapajos river. Among the companies touting to win huge construction contracts are France's EDF and Engie, and Germany's Voith and Siemens - in a consortium led by Brazil's Electrobras, which stands accused of high-level corruption over four other dam projects.
But China also wants to get involved!!!
"Tapajós Hydroeletric Power Complex". Seven dams are planned to be built in Western Pará state.
In the map above five of the planned dams are shown. They will be constructed in the state of Pará (represented on top left).
Major European energy companies are set to build and run the controversial mega-dam project planned for the Tapajos river in the heart of the Amazon.
This comes as a senior construction official has implicated the nearby Belo Monte dam in the massive corruption scandal that has engulfed President Dilma Rousseff and the country's most powerful political figures.
Otávio Marques de Azevedo, former president of the Brazilian construction company Andrade Gutierrez, told investigators that the Belo Monte dam was used to generate donations of 150m reais ($41.4m) to the ruling coalition. Dozens of other projects were also corruptly used to generate funds for political parties, he testified in a plea bargain.
The Brazilian government is aggressively promoting the development of an enormous hydropower complex on the Amazonian waterway despite fears that it would cause mass deforestation and flooding that would devastate indigenous communities and the wildlife.
French utilities EDF and Engie are members of a study group of companies who may bid to win contracts for the largest dam in the initiative - the São Luiz do Tapajós project. The study group also involves Brazilian firms linked to the ongoing corruption investigation.
Italian energy company Enel quit the group earlier this year, claiming the dam jarred with a fresh set of priorities introduced by new, environmentally friendly management.
A joint venture between German firms Siemens and Voith, though not part of the construction consortia, is thought likely to manufacture the turbines used at the dam and to be an otherwise key player in the supply chain.
Meanwhile China Three Gorges, the controversial company behind the enormous dam that bears its name, is also fishing for contracts, but - seeing as it's not part of the favoured group - it may not actually get the job.
Most of the rest of the firms likely to be involved in the Tapajos hydro scheme are Brazilian, led by state-owned Electrobras.
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China wants to get involved
Okay, so that's what's behind door number 1. Door number 2, which is rather less likely to be opened, finds the Chinese state and another Electrobras subsidiary with a joint bid. In 2014 the Brazilian company Furnas partnered with China Three Gorges (CTG) to carry out a feasibility study on the SLT megadam.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff were at the signing ceremony, which marked - along with the Hinkley nuclear project - a new strategy from Beijing: export its capital expenditure energy infrastructure.
CTG, infamous for the mass displacement caused by the dam it built on the Yangtze River in China, is now looking west to branch out its business, with a special eye on the Brazilian market.
It recently acquired a 30-year concession to operate two hydropower plants in Brazil, the Jupiá and Ilha Solteira dams.
Brazil's corruption scandal
At the centre of both prospective bids is Electrobras, the second largest energy company in Brazil. Yes, Electrobras is state-owned and therefore tied to in some degree the corruption crisis that threatens to take down the Rousseff administration.
The company is facing two class action lawsuits in the US, one of which alleges that senior executives and subsidiaries profited from bribery and money associated with major projects, including the Belo Monte, Jiaru, Santo Antonio and Teles Pires dams.
This lawsuit, led by the municipal corporation of Providence, Rhode Island on behalf of anyone who acquired shares in Electrobras between 2010 and 2015, was born out of the wider corruption scandal which originated with Petrobras, the country's other major state-owned energy company.
Recently the Belo Monte dam has become a focus on the investigation, with just last month Senator Delcídio do Amaral admitting $9 million had been siphoned off from the project to fund election campaigns.
He added that the corruption around Belo Monte extended to exerting political pressure to ensure contracts were awarded to companies such as IMPSA, Siemens and Alstom.
