Issue: upgrading a squatter settlement

Model answer

B

Model answer

1.5 billion = 1 500 000 000. 1 500 000 000 ÷ 25 000 = USD 60 000 per household.

Model answer

Figure 1 shows that 40% of working residents work within Morro Azul itself, probably in small shops, workshops and market stalls in the informal economy. If Morro Azul were cleared, these businesses would lose their premises and their customers, so these people would lose their income completely. Another 50% work in the CBD (30%) or the coastal districts (20%). From Campo Largo, 35 km away, the bus journey to the CBD would take about 2 hours each way, so workers would spend much of their low wages on bus fares and might lose jobs that need early starts, such as domestic or cleaning work. Informal workers also depend on contacts built up over many years, which would be broken up by the move.

Model answer

Option 3 tries to tackle one of the main causes of poverty in Morro Azul: the lack of well-paid jobs. Figure 1 shows that the industrial zone would create 15 000 jobs. With unemployment at 22%, formal jobs with regular wages could greatly increase household incomes. Residents with more money could then improve their own homes and spend more in local shops, creating a positive multiplier effect. The cable car would cut the journey to the CBD from 75 minutes to 25 minutes, so residents could also reach many more jobs, colleges and hospitals across the city. In Medellín, Colombia, cable cars linking hillside settlements to the metro have helped residents reach jobs in the city.

Option 3 is also attractive to the city government. It would be finished in only 4 years and private companies would pay 60% of the USD 650 million cost, so the city would pay about USD 260 million - less than option 2 and far less than option 1. No households would be moved, so the community and the informal economy would survive.

However, option 3 has serious weaknesses. Figure 1 shows there would be no change to water, sewers or electricity, so the health problems caused by poor sanitation, such as high infant mortality, would continue, and sewage would still pollute the Rio Verde. Families on the steep slopes and the flood plain would still be at risk of landslides and floods like the one that killed 9 people in 2022. There is also no guarantee that residents would get the new jobs: only 25% of adults have completed secondary school, so companies might employ skilled workers from elsewhere. Private companies might pay low wages or leave if profits fall, and the industrial zone could create air and water pollution. Better transport and jobs might even attract more migrants, making overcrowding worse. The cable car in Rio's Complexo do Alemão later closed because of funding problems, which shows such schemes need long-term money.

Overall, option 3 is a useful long-term plan because it tackles unemployment and isolation, which are causes of poverty. However, it fails to deal with the most urgent problems of safety and sanitation, so on its own it would not be enough; it would work best combined with upgrading services.