Heads of state will begin arriving in the Amazon city of Belem in a month for the United Nations climate summit, but the infrastructure meant to receive them remains unfinished.
Alongside what has been dubbed the “leaders village,” a series of several low-slung buildings that will house many of the visiting presidents, another three-story building is far from completion.
Its gleaming white and glass facade, capped with a helipad, overlooks the complex set to host the 197-nation climate talks known as COP30. In the back, facing away from the road but looming over the presidential housing, the building is a raw shell of concrete and exposed brick.
The Para state government said it does not consider the half-finished structure a part of the leaders village or the wider public works for COP30, although the helipad on top “will be made available to attend to the demands of the conference.”
Still, the bustling construction site captures the frenetic, unfinished quality that has seized this tropical city of 1.3 million in the final month of preparations.
The Para state government said the more than 30 public works it is preparing for COP30 with investments of 4.5 billion reais ($845 million) are on schedule, including roads, parks, drainage channels and refurbished tourist destinations.
The sound of renovations echoes through the international airport and the city’s hotels, a half-dozen of which are being built for the conference.
Work is still underway on a pier for huge cruise ships with thousands of berths for visiting delegations. Another terminal designed to receive “floating hotels” was meant to open in July, but was just 79% finished last month.
Delegations are getting creative about accommodations because a scarcity of hotel beds has sent prices soaring beyond levels seen at prior conferences, stoking tensions between diplomats, U.N. organizers and the Brazilian government.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva played down those concerns during a visit to Belem last week.
“I’m going to want to sleep on a boat,” he joked in a local television interview. “We don’t have the boat yet, but I’ll find one.”
($1 = 5.32 reais)
(Reporting by Brad Haynes)
