Mato Grosso do Sul The Newest Brazilian State Opens MCMV Registrations

Minha Casa Minha Vida (My House My Life) Registration has recently opened in the state Mato Grosso do Sul, The government programme that is to be extended again in July allows Brazilian families on modest incomes to own their very own home thanks to subsidies from the state. The programme has been very successful in the North East that to property developers such as EcoHouse Group building quality homes for the programme.

 

Mato Grosso do Sul ( ‘Dense Forest of the South’) has only been a Brazilian State since the late 1970’s when it was split off from (the still existing) Mato Grosso. To this day the two similar names do still cause some confusion, especially with people from overseas or elsewhere in Brazil. At the time it was suggested that the new state should have a name that was clearly distinct; perhaps ‘Pantanal’ after the famous and wildlife-rich swamps and lowlands at the heart of the state. However, for good or ill ‘Mato Grosso do Sul’ has become the settled name.

The state is officially in the mid west part of the country but in practice can broadly be regarded as in the south. As well as sharing a border with Mato Grosso (the original). It is also next to the states of Sao Paolo and Parana. As well as this, of course it has international frontiers with Bolivia and Paraguay.

The new state has an area of about 350,000 sq Km. This is around the same size as Germany but of course the population of only 2.3 million is very much lower ! The natural beauty of the sparsely-inhabited state makes it very popular as a centre for tourism, both from within Brazil itself and from the wider world.

The capital and largest city is Campo Grande which has about 800,000 people. This is followed by Dourados with about a quarter as many and then the cities of Corumba and Tres Lagoas which both have populations of about one hundred thousand. These four metropolitan areas comprise about half of the total population of the state.

Agriculture is a much more important direct contributor to the GDP of Mato Grosso do Sul than for any other Brazilian state. In addition, this direct contribution of about a third is boosted further by the input of secondarily-related factors. The main farming activities focus on Cattle and other livestock, soya beans, sugar cane, wheat and corn (maize).

Industry contributes around 20% of the state’s GDP. Much of this is based, one way or another, on the important iron and manganese mining operations which have been a mainstay. In earlier colonial and imperial times, gold was also an important product and several ‘mini-goldrushes’ took place during the history of the region. Nowadays it is much less important. The general climate of the state (like its neighbours) tends to be tropical or subtropical.

In summary, Mato Grosso do Sul is a beautiful place to live and any Minha Casa Minha Vida homes that are built will be snapped up very quickly. Although, with EcoHouse Group currently building in both Rio Grand Do Sul in the South and Rio Grande Do Norte in the North East it’s hard to say whether it will be EcoHouse who decide to build in Mato Grosso do Sul.

You can keep track of EcoHouse Group current and future Minha Casa Minha Vida developments by visiting the companies Official Blog.

WorldCup is Here — Should You Travel To Brazil?

Without doubt, Brazil ranks among the top bucket-list destinations with its carnival spirit, postmodern architecture and to-die-for beaches and jungle forests. But when the usually avuncular FIFA tartly points out the host country screwed up an unprecedented seven-year head start — then yes, it’s safe to say a mighty unflattering hash tag is looming.

Foot-dragging sprint
Of course, the handwringing looks awfully familiar. Isn’t this the usual foot-dragging/last-minute sprint that happens with all these mammoth sports undertakings? Things turned out fine with the Winter Games in Russia (although not so much with the Crimean peninsula takeover during the Paralympics), the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India. (OK, strike that last one: The corruption was so glaring and the sewage ran so freely, the Olympic committee briefly banned India from Sochi when the country elected the same bumbling secretary general to its Indian Olympic Association.)

ALECRIM DRAMATICALLY QUALIFY FOR 2015 BRAZILIAN CUP

Alecrim have qualified for their first ever Brazilian Cup after securing a third place finish in the Rio Grande do Norte State Championship.  Needing a victory at home to Baraunas to qualify for Brazil’s national cup competition, the EcoHouse-sponsored team held a 2-1 lead going in to the last five minutes.

However it appeared all was lost in the 88th when Vitor scored for Baraunas, but the Alecrim players never let their heads drop and just one minute from the final whistle, striker Rodrigo da Lua scored the decisive goal to send the home crowd wild.  The Alecrim players can now look forward to potentially facing some of the top teams in Brazil next season, in what will be the club’s centenary year.

“I want to thank the fans and all those who worked so hard to be part of this fantastic achievement.  In 2015 Alecrim will celebrate its 100th birthday, and as a fruit of the hard work everyone has put in, we will compete in a huge national competition.  Everyone in the Alecrim family has once again showed their strength and achieved yet another objective, participation in the Brazilian Cup.  The hard work continues!” said Alecrim President and EcoHouse CEO Anthony Armstrong Emery.

Brazil Invests in new air traffic technology ready for the World Cup and Olympics

In the run up to the FIFA World Cup this summer, and the Rio Olympics in 2016, SITA is working with the Comissão de Implantação do Sistema de Controle do Espaço Aéreo (CISCEA) in its drive to improve Brazil’s air traffic management equipment. CISCEA is the body in charge of developing and implementing fresh technology for DECEA, the Brazilian Air Navigation Service Provider.

SITA, the world’s foremost supplier of air traffic management communications and IT solutions, already provides Departure Clearance (DCL) and Digital-Automatic Terminal Information Service (D-ATIS) datalink services at both Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo’s GRU Airport. These solutions will now be extended to 23 airports across Brazil in a plan to increase safety ready for the increased number of air traveller expecting over the next couple of years.

Major Brigadier Carlos Vuyk de Aquino, President of CISCEA, said: “Brazil has some of the most congested airspace in South America and we are very proud to be hosting two of the world’s biggest sporting events. We want everybody flying to, from and within Brazil to have smooth and uneventful journeys. It is therefore essential that our air traffic controller have access to the finest technology available today.

“This investment is not only for these big events, but is part of SIRIUS, DECEA’s major modernization program. A cornerstone of this program is the delivery of datalink services at Brazil’s main airports to transform air traffic communications. We have been working with SITA over the past ten years and we are confident that the SITA team will deliver exactly what we need.”

DCL, using SITA’s datalink solution integrated with local systems, streamlines departure control. The pilot requests departure clearance by sending a text message to the control tower and the controller responds, also by datalink. Likewise, using D-ATIS, real-time airport operational and weather information is transmitted to the pilot over datalink. Together DCL and DATIS will reduce overloading of the VHF voice frequency and so improve overall efficiency and safety. Philip Clinch, SITA Vice President of Aircraft Services, said: “Using datalink makes flying more efficient and even safer. The transmission of data in text format is highly reliable. It reduces workload for both air traffic controllers and pilots by improving the accuracy of their communications. And information can be transmitted at any phase of the flight, in advance of the busy time period of departure and approach.”

This massive project began back in December 2013 and is continuing as planned. The technology is being delivered in batches to four airports at a time and will be completed in time for the Olympic Games in 2016.

This article has been brought to you by EcoHouse Group, providing the latest and up to date Brazil News, visit the EcoHouse news pages for more news

Interested in Brazil Investments? Download the FREE Resources from our website here : Here!

After the success of the minha casa minha vida housing scheme Brazil now Invests In Space

One of the fastest growing investment opportunities for Brazil these days is something many people find surprising. The subject or commodity in question is simply…space. No, that doesn’t mean the huge expanses of the Universe beyond our planet but rather something very much more down to earth.

It is in fact actual storage space for physical items, mostly manufactured goods awaiting shipment to end-user customers. In particular this includes the clients in Brazil of online retailers, a rapidly growing sector of sales and marketing. All around the world the online sales industry is growing by leaps and bounds and the South American economic giant is certainly no exception. After all, it’s now the sixth largest GDP economy in the world.

This means that Brazilian storage space in warehouses and the like is at a premium and will certainly become more so as the online sales industry continues to develop. It’s true that the country’s rate of growth has slowed a bit in the last year or two but absolute growth is still happening. The knock-on effect is that this particularly healthy area of retail does require more and more infrastructure.

The expansion is impressive. Warehouse space in Brazil is currently doubling in size. The larger cyber-retailers include well known names such as Wal-Mart and Arezzo (based at Cajamar, near Sao Paolo). Overseas investors are also getting in on the act and this list includes the Goodman Group and Prologis Inc. (based in California but currently operating over four million square feet of warehouse space in Brazil)). The firm has constructed massive warehouse facilities for leasing, an opportunity that is rapidly being taken up. In addition, the Rio Company B2W Cia Digital is adding ten new warehouse complexes in various states of Brazil over the next twelve months or so.

Online sales in Brazil are expected to increase by twenty percent this year, to the equivalent of over fifteen Billion US Dollars. This will only serve to increase the demand for temporary storage and warehouse space before shipping the goods to their final destinations.

At present it’s estimated that there are over eighty million square metres of warehouse space in Brazil, the world’s sixth largest GDP economy. Commentators forecast that this will need to double over the next five years or so. Probably, that target will not be fully achieved. This is because a lot of it will require completely new built premises as much of the older property cannot be easily expanded for a variety of reasons. However, everyone will strive to reach that goal. All in all, this area of the economy continues to provide excellent investment opportunities. It’s a good bet that one of the largest companies currently investing millions in Brazil’s housing sector, EcoHouse Group will also turn it’s attention to this new and up and coming commodity, after all the EcoHouse Group’s EH International brand already invests millions around the world in other sectors including land, roads, office blocks and student accommodation.

Watch this space for updates or visit the EcoHouse Group main website for updates and news about the latest projects and investments.

Interested in Minha Casa Minha Vida or other short term Investments? Download the FREE Resources : Here!

Immigration in Brazil helping the Social Housing problem

With the launch of Minha Casa Minha Vida back in 2009 more and more people are happy to move to Brazil, not only from poorer South American countries but from Europe, Asia and North America, many of these visitor don’t set up permanent residency but rather choose to have Brazil as their second home so they can keep an eye on their businesses and investments.
Not only are investors cashing on the social housing programme thanks to real estate giants such as London based EcoHouse Group allowing people to invest in their minha casa minha vida developments, but many businesses are opening offices in Brazil due to the runaway success of the Brazilian economy.

It’s an understatement to say that immigration has been important for Brazil. In fact the truth is that the whole society has been a crucial blend, for centuries, of the contributions made by successive waves of incomers from Europe and elsewhere.
When the Portuguese first discovered the territory in the year 1500, the vast expanse had only about two and a half million native inhabitants. Apart from these, at first there were relatively few people from overseas, just a few thousand soldiers, sailors, traders and explorers. For a long time they tended to huddle in or near coastal regions including the new towns and ports of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo and northwards along the shore from there.

However, in the five hundred years since then the situation has been very different. For nearly three hundred years there were millions of African slaves (until the early nineteenth century) imported to work on the plantations and farms. Over the centuries there were also many more millions of landowners, entrepreneurs, workers and settlers from Portugal, Italy and Germany as well as a score of other countries, not all of them in Europe.  In that sense, Brazil’s experience has been very much like its North American counterpart, the USA, (although this has had a very much higher proportion of English speakers, of course!)

In terms of ‘free’ immigrants, significant levels of immigration took a long time to develop. This was true at least until the early 1800’s when many of the new ports were opened for the purpose. The inflow of these people was variable and influenced by very many factors.  According to historians, the busiest period for this was the half century or so between about 1875 and 1930. During these years an average of about 75,000 immigrants per year poured into Brazil, nearly half of them either Italians or Portuguese.

Since then there’s been a steady inflow of people from Europe and other places in particular the Middle East and Far East. Nowadays many Brazilian people have a partial ‘mixed’ heritage. This is a result of the (reasonably) harmonious relations and intermarriage between the races in the last century or so. This is of course in drastic contrast to the conflict of the slavery times and early colonial days.  Generally, the country now is a fairly cohesive one and friction between the various ethnic groups in society is not common. The governments of recent times have been at least acceptably successful in helping this.

This years World Cup and the upcoming Olympic Games in 2016 will no doubt spark additional interest in the country and hopefully bring even more businesses and investors to Brazil

Any interest in Investing in Minha Casa Minha Vida or Brazil as a whole should download the FREE Minha Casa Minha Vida Resources : Here!

More Funds for Minha Casa Minha Vida in 2014

President Dilma Rousseff’s government is increasing funding for the landmark Minha Casa Minha Vida (My House My Life) program by R$1 billion in 2014. The move, which will funnel R$15.77 billion into the government-sponsored housing credit initiative, according to O Globo, is an attempt to shore up support for Rousseff in an election year.
The report indicates that, at a time when support for Bolsa Família (Family Scholarship) is high among other candidates, the Workers’ Party (PT) president can no longer rely on the ten-year-old conditional cash transfer program to generate excitement and electoral support as she seeks reelection this November. Bolsa Família, enacted by Rousseff’s predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in 2003, is largely credited for lifting millions of Brazilians out of extreme poverty in the last decade.
Its supporters point to Bolsa Família’s fame as one of the most effective poverty-reduction programs in the world. To its harshest critics, it is a vote-buying scheme that creates clientelism. Ensuring that Bolsa Família is maintained is said to have been key to securing the victory of Workers’ Party candidates in the last two presidential elections.
President Rousseff’s opposition is now labeling her effort to increase Minha Casa Minha Vida funds as opportunism.

“There’s a great electoral opportunism in making a one R$1 billion reinforcement in the program in an election year. The government uses the weaknesses of the poorest population to perpetuate itself in power. But that bill will be paid by society one day, because they are creating a huge bubble, the degree of bankruptcy is very high,” warned Senator Cássio Cunha Lima from Brazil’s Social Democracy Party (PSDB).
Yet in November 2013, PSDB’s presidential candidate, Aécio Neves, introduced a bill in the Senate that would guarantee Bolsa Família would not be repealed by other governments.

Rousseff’s government is hoping 3.5 million homes will be finished between 2015 and 2018, an increase from the 2.7 million houses completed during phase two of Minha Casa Minha Vida that draws to a close this year. Rousseff had initially proposed three million homes for the third phase of the program.
“Those who are against extending the resources of Minha Casa Minha Vida for 2014 are the same who voted against the creation of the program back then,” PT leader José Guimarães told O Globo. The public housing program was enacted by Lula in 2009. Over one million homes have been completed and delivered since its start. As Bolsa Família, Minha Casa Minha Vida is popular among low income Brazilians and enjoys wide support from the larger population.
The program provides financing so that those households making under three times the minimum wage can buy their first home with low interest loans. It is meant to influence the housing market so that it offers an adequate supply of affordable houses to low-income prospective homeowners.
O Globo reported that Rousseff has asked her ministers to address the flaws that the program’s opponents might rail against during her reelection campaign this year. Minha Casa Minha Vida has been marked by fraud scandals and by accusations of delivering inadequate, poor quality homes. The government is hoping to quickly finish the second phase’s technical studies so that it can use the project’s successes in its campaign.
– See more at: http://www.ecohousegroup.com/More-Funds-for-Minha-Casa-Minha-Vida-in-2014.htm#sthash.2Bb7JIfA.dpuf

EcoHouse Group to Focus on Existing Clients and temporarily stop selling in Singapore

EcoHouse Group, the developer responsible for what was arguably Singapore’s top-selling overseas investment in 2012, has temporarily stopped selling its Brazilian property investments in Singapore.

The reason for the halt in sales, according to a spokesperson for the company speaking to PropertyGuru, is that : “.. the primary focus is to allow construction in Brazil to catch up before launching further phases to new investors.”

He added: “We did not feel that it was right to continue to market to new investors in Singapore, and felt that we should focus on looking after our existing clients.”

He also reiterated that the EcoHouse office in Singapore is very much active and clients are welcome there at any time to discuss their investments.

PropertyGuru was contacted by investors who had signed modifications to their agreements with the expectation of returns being paid out before the end of the year.

The spokesperson said: “At the time of pledging to make the pay outs we thought that we would have the required funds available. Many payments were made, but many in other batches were not. We are still, unfortunately, working through the documentation needed as the amount of people taking advantage of this scheme also exceeded our initial expectations.”

He added that it is in the company’s interests to make the payments on time and delays are also not helpful for EcoHouse.

Investors have also been concerned about an article which appeared in the satirical U.K. magazine Private Eye during mid-November, questioning the ability of EcoHouse to meet its obligations.

The spokesperson said: “This article was really part of an ongoing spat between Private Eye and the Guardian newspapers in the U.K., where there is not much love lost. This was a short paragraph that was referring to a couple of negative blogs.”

“Of course we would rather take note of the many, many positive articles written by journalists who have either interviewed Senior EcoHouse executives or visited Brazil to see our projects for themselves, including PropertyGuru.”

EcoHouse plans to contact all its Singapore investors shortly with further updates.

It is believed that more than 1,200 individual overseas property investments have been sold to investors throughout Southeast Asia by EcoHouse in the last three years.

Written by Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group.

Article source PropertyGuru.com.sg Group.

EcoHouse Group Payouts Continue, What’s Next for MCMV

As EcoHouse Group continues to pay out hundreds of thousands to it’s Singaporean investors the question on everyone’s lips is that when the current Bosque projects currently under construction near Natal, Rio Grande do Norte are finally completed early next year which will be the next state to benefit from EcoHouse’s Minha Casa Minha Vida developments which have been reported as being some of the highest quality social housing units ever constructed in Brazil.

Map locator of Brazil’s Tocantins state (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many people have speculated that their will be further projects launched in Rio Grande do Norte, after all this is where EcoHouse has it’s main offices, but EcoHouse’s purchase of a controlling stake in the Brazilian construction company Conisa last earlier this year means that that have more resources to build further a field and other north east states such as Maranhão, Ceará, Paraíba and Piauí have been mentioned on a number of occasions, but what about state north typically classed and North Eastern state such as Tocantins for example?

Tocantins is the newest state of Brazil. It’s only existed in the central zone of the country since 1988 when it was separated from Goias. Its new capital city, Palmas, was started the following year. The other main towns and settlements in Tocantins mostly date from the old Portuguese colonial period. The state has mixed geographical features, influenced as it is by the Amazon and other river systems. These include huge hydroelectric potential which involve the Tocantins and Araguaia Rivers. In contrast, other parts of the state have extensive open grasslands and pasture areas as well as some rainforest near the Amazon river. Another interesting aspect of Tocantins is the Ilha do Bananal in the south west which is in fact the largest river-island in the world. It’s in the Araguaia River, between two forks, and has a huge area of 7,400 square miles (which is about twice the size of Jamaica).

Although the area has significant rainfall the soil is generally not very good for farming as it lacks natural nutrients. This is a feature of the ‘cerrado’ landscape which covers a wide area of central Brazil. The main feature of this kind of land is extensive grassland and savanna, mixed with some alpine style pastures. Agriculture was always possible; however, it just required more soil-management than in some other areas. Nowadays modern fertilizer and nutrition techniques have made food-growing not just viable but much more profitable than it used to be.

The history of the region started back in the early seventeenth century. The fist recorded penetration by European explorers was in 1625 when Jesuit missionaries first arrived, Their main purpose was of course to convert the local people to Christianity but eventually they were followed by settlers who had much more worldly intentions. These often involved the indigenous tribespeople (and not usually to their advantage). Until 1988 Tocantins was the northern, relatively inaccessible part of Goias State. Over the years, however a sense of separate identity had been slowly but surely developing which eventually led to separation. The new state has steadily extended its agriculturally based economy since then. The main city of the state of Tocantins is its capital, Palmas which has about a quarter of a million people in its metropolitan area. Other major towns and settlements include Araguiana with about 150,000 people and Gurupi with seventy-five thousand. There are about a dozen other significant towns with populations above twenty thousand or so.

These days the state is seen as having great potential for the future and every year thousands of immigrants from all over the country immigrate to live and work in the area.

Minha Casa Minha Vida thriving in the North East Thanks to EcoHouse Brazil

Flag of Sergipe, Brazil (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

EcoHouse Brazil has been in the news quite recently, having been covered in various forums, UK’s home and travel website and even on Yahoo. For those few people who haven’t heard of them, EcoHouse Group are an international property developer with offices in the UK, Brazil, North America, China, Malaysia and Singapore and are world leader in international property investment thanks to their involvement in Minha Casa Minha Vida, The Brazilain government’s social housing programme.

Lot’s of states in the North East of Brazil have praised EcoHouse  for setting up offices and building their first developments in this part of the country, one thankful state is Sergipe, here’s a little more about this tiny north eastern state.

The north eastern state of Sergipe is Brazil’s smallest and is downright tiny compared to some of the others. It is only 22,000 sq km which makes it slightly smaller than the US state of Massachusetts or slightly larger than the Republic of Israel. The population is around 2.1 million, about a quarter of whom live in or around the state capital of Aracaju. Other important towns are the former capital São Cristóvão with 75.000 people, Estancia (62,000), Simão Dias at 40.000 and Laranjeiras which has 27.000.

In historical times this whole part of Brazil was repeatedly struggled over by the Portuguese (and their successors in the Brazilian Empire) and the Dutch and the final victory and domination by the former was by no means a foregone conclusion. Another factor which caused great damage was the constant series of raids by French pirates along the coast. At long last these external threats were overcome.

The coastal area of Sergipe has swamps and sandy beaches as its natural environment while inland, as with other states in this part of the country, Savanna grasslands dominate the landscape. The northern boundary of the state is provided by the São Francisco River and the natural drainage of that part of Sergipe flows into it. On the other hand, the southern half of the state drains directly east towards the Atlantic, through a number of smaller rivers including the Irapiranga and the Real. These tend to be navigable for some of their length but extensive sandbars have prevented the development of good ports on the coast.

The more naturally wooded areas of Sergipe tend to have good levels of rainfall and the soil is therefore very fertile. Agriculture has historically been very important in these areas (notably sugar and cotton) and nowadays it remains vital.  By far the biggest part of the State’s economy rests on the production and processing of sugarcane. The state produces one and a half million tonnes of sugar each year.

The other large crops include Cassava (600,000 tonnes p.a.) and over fourteen million oranges. Growing, harvesting, processing and distributing these products dominate the state’s economy but of course other industries (such as leather and textiles) do exist. A newer factor is the national government’s encouragement to develop a local petroleum industry.

Physical contact with the rest of Brazil ( and the outside world generally) tends to rely on the Airport at Maracaju ( not one of the country’s finest) and the two major highways, the BR-101 and the BR-235.

EcoHouse Group have offices in Brazil, the UK, North America, the Middle East, Singapore, Malaysia and China and have been building Minha Casa Minha Vida homes since 2009, EcoHouse are reducing the housing shortage and giving people the chance to make Secure Investments in Brazil

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