THE CORUMBIARA CASE
The Rondoniense economy is based on agriculture, cattle rising and the lumber industry. It has a strong commercial trade, and the gold fields, which have represented an important factor, are now residual. At the moment, one of the main economic matters in the State is auto-sustainable tourism (eco-tourism). The mining of tin is stabilized due to the fall of the prices on the international market.
Rondônia has 3,391 industries, most of which are of small and medium capacity. The processing of the wood represents 27,6% of the industrial activities. The lumber mills are what motivate commercial trade and the service industry.
Other activities that also stand out are the industrial sectors, food products, civil construction, metal factories, furniture carpentry, ready-made industries and non-metallic minerals.
The main products are rice, beans, corn, cassava, coffee, cocoa, banana, cotton and soya beans.
A cattle rearing in Rondônia is more evident in the northern region with a herd estimated at 4,440,967 heads. What is noteworthy is that cattle rearing started only in 1970 and grew very quickly, with the bovine herd being the most important activity, in the animal sector, in the State.
The milk-producing basin also expanded, reaching a high degree of specialization. The state has 44 industries of dairy products with large, medium and small capacities, which supplies the internal market in Manaus. The milk production is estimated at 235,097,982 liters (in 1995).
After passing through the tin and gold cycles, it will be the period of granite and ornamental stones now.
Tin, which has been responsible for creating employment and for the circulation of wealth, is now restricted to three mines - Serra da Onça, Potosi and Bom Futuro - and it depends on the international market. A total of 14,400t of tin were produced in 1996.
Besides granite, ornamental stones, tin and gold, there are still niobium-tantalum, silver, copper, cobalt, lead, zinc, platinum, palladium, rare lands, chrome, phosphorus, emerald, diamond, calcareous and topaz in Rondônia.
The Samuel Hydroelectric Dam had its construction inaugurated in 1982 and it still is not completed. It is responsible for supplying energy from Porto Velho to Pimenta Bueno, about 50% of the State, generating 172,80 Mw (the total capacity is 216 Mw).
There is a project for the construction of a plant with an initial capacity of 237,70 Mw and with the possibility of expanding the generating of electricity and for the system to supply the State of Acre also.
Rondônia has asphalted highways, the main one being the BR-364, which is the most important access road to the State. It links Cuiabá - MT to Rio Branco - AC, passing through Rondônia from South to North. The highway network is composed of about 5,000 km of roads that are important for the territorial inter-linking and to dispatch agricultural products.
In spite of being located in Amazônia, the waterway network is still not best used in Rondônia. Food products destined to Manaus and other products to Peru pass through the port of Porto Velho. The average annual shipping is of 275,562t of imports and 528,574 of exports. This amount of shipped cargo should increase with the commencement of the operation of the grain terminal, when 300.000t of grains will be initially embarked to Europe.
Aerial transport has a reasonable infrastructure in the State. The airport in Porto Velho is ready to be internationalized and when this occurs there will be international flights to the neighboring countries as well as to Chile. Annually an average of 88,000 passengers embark and 80,000 passengers are disembarked, besides a reasonable volume of cargo.
Railways do not exist in Rondônia. Since the historical Madeira - Mamoré Highway was shut down in 1972 it is used only for tourists activities.
In relation to tourism, the EMBRATUR approved the identification of seven municipal districts of Rondônia, considering them viable for tourist exploration, and the ecological tourism is the strong vocation of most of them. Other forms of tourism are: tourism of events (fairs, congresses and conventions), with Porto Velho and Ji-Paraná standing out on this point, and the tourism centered on cultural historical marks, manifestations and popular visitation.
In this aspect, the municipal district of Porto Velho, maintains most of the internal flow of tourism, as it is the traditional aerial port of entry, and the only one that receives national domestic flights. In Ji-Paraná, a significant agricultural-industrial pole, the tourism of events is already expressive. Guajará Mirim possesses the attributes of eco-tourism and historical-cultural occurrences added to the presence of the Free Trade Area. Costa Marques already possesses eco-tourism, which is added to one of the important architectural monuments in the history of the Portuguese territorial occupation, the Forte Príncipe da Beira, apart from developing the Quelônios (river turtles) Project of Amazônia.
In relation to the equipment and support services to tourism, the present offer is satisfying the demand, even if there are restrictions on quality, but if there should be an increase of tourist flow, it will be necessary to expand and to improve lodging facilities, food services, entertainment and leisure activities, adapting to the infrastructure that supports tourism.
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