Guilherme’s routine starts at 04:00am. Resident of Jardim Iguatemi, on São Paulo's extreme east side, he takes an hour and a half to get to the Belém region, where he works as an office assistant. On his way back, he takes a bus at 05:00pm and gets off in front of the Corinthians-Itaquera metro station. Guilherme then takes a van and currently arrives home at 07:00pm.
“Before I’d get home at 07:30pm, so I’ve gained half an hour. It may seem little, but it's an extra 30 minutes to rest and be with my family", said Guilherme Xavier.
The reduction in travelling time was made possible through the building of roadways in the Itaquera region, in São Paulo’s east zone. In addition to the Corinthians Arena – stage of six 2014 World Cup matches – another six interventions were developed in the region, with a view to improving urban mobility.
An access road between Jacu-Pêssego and José Pinheiro Borges Avenues (Nova Radial) was built, in addition to a new road that connects the south and north side of the city, in the region between Itaquera and Nova Radial Avenues. Furthermore, a new avenue linking up the north and south region with Miguel Inácio Curi Avenue was built, as well as a tunnel on Dr. Luis Aires Road (Radial Leste). Other interventions are the roundabout and the widening of the road on the Miguel Inácio Curi and Engenheiro Adervan Machado junction. Moreover, a foot bridge has been built at Artur Alvim metro station.
Investments reached R$ 610.5 million, R$ 459.9 million of which from the state treasury and R$ 150.6 million from the municipal public power. All projects were delivered before the beginning of the World Cup, with the exception of another access road between Jacu-Pêssego and Nova Radial, which still needs to be built.
The immediate consequence of the construction works was the easing up of traffic in the region. Like Guilherme, other residents of the east zone - which is home to 4 million people - celebrate the improvement in the bus service, one of them is Rose Bueno who works in the city centre. She uses the train and bus to commute to work. “The route is much faster. Before, Radial Leste was really narrow and traffic was horrendous. Now, the time you spent on the bus is practically the same as the time you spent on the metro”, she said.
João Alexandre da Silva, Chairman of the Loan Holders and Cohab 1 (Metropolitan Housing Company) Residents Association in Artur Alvim, has also noticed a reduction in travel time as a result of construction works. "You'd take an hour, trying to overtake and having to share space with buses. Now there’s an exclusive bus lane and the overpass, which is used by the cars. The traffic jam is history. And if you take the bus at Itaquera towards Dom Pedro Park (in the city centre), it takes 25 minutes. It would take an hour before”, he added.
Pride
For everyone, the change in the region has also meant that Itaquera and the east zone is now seen differently. The stadium and the staging of World Cup matches has placed the region onto the national and world map.
For João Alexandre, the interventions drew the attention of people from other neighbourhoods in the region. “It triggered the curiosity of those around us to come and see the stadium. The east zone has always had a bad reputation. But Itaquera is no longer at the level that people used to talk about. It's another region”, he said.
Other interventions
The building of professional training, culture, leisure and services venues – the so-called Itaquera Institutional Hub – had already been anticipated before the stadium. FATEC (Technology University) was inaugurated in 2012 and ETEC (Technical School) will start its activities in 2015.
Other interventions were the Itaquera Overpass (240 metres long), a new 17,500m² public square, renovation and extension works at the Itaquera Terminal - reaching over 18,500m² now - and the recovery of the 24km in public lighting in Radial Leste. In addition, the new lamp posts on the Corinthians-Itaquera station footbridge were covered up.
Shop owner Márcio Braga praised the cleanliness of the public areas and lighting. He is also celebrating as he has doubled his revenues on match days, as his shops is close to the Artur Alvim metro station, used by fans to get to the stadium. He expects this to continue after the World Cup, when Corinthians plays at home.
The increase in value in real state was something else that resulted from the investments being directed to the east zone. “Flats have increased in price, so has rent and shops have increased their prices. But we've been busier. I don’t look at this negatively, because a lot of people has got a lot out of it. A house that cost R$ 70 thousand four years ago, now costs R$ 200 thousand”, explained João Alexandre da Silva.
Obras viárias em Itaquera - São Paulo
More jobs
One of the oldest complains made by east zone residents is the lack of jobs in the region, which makes them have to commute daily to the city centre, or further.
“We have to stop being a dormitory neighbourhood, governments need to bring more enterprises to this area", stated the chairman of Itaquera’s Shop Directors Association Roberto Manna. The association represents 55 thousand shop owners and 600 industries in the area. According to him, these figures are insufficient to supply for the demand of jobs made by the around 800 thousand residents.
This point of view is shared by one of the neighbourhood's main icons, Leandro Alves Martins, president of the Leandro de Itaquera Samba School. “With the investments, the road works, everything around us has improved. We have a stadium that is a tourist site. I hope that we attract more industries, shops, so that the people from Itaquera may be able to work locally”, said the samba artist.
According to the São Paulo City Hall, they are already working to attract more enterprises to the east region. At the end of 2013, Mayor Fernando Haddad sanctioned the bill that ensures benefits from service enterprises in the areas of computing, education, teaching, training, accommodation, call centre and telemarketing, so such companies may set up shop in this area of the city. They will be exempt from paying the IPTU (property tax) and 60% of the ISS (service tax).
The public administration expects to generate 50 thousand new jobs in the east zone. At least one enterprise should benefit from the incentives and start construction works right after the World Cup: development company Lidencorp is planning to build an office building in the area where Itaquera's old quarry used to be, next to the Corinthians stadium.
“We now have to move to make the investments worthwhile and give continuity to the kick-start offered by these construction works. We want to grow even more”, stated Karin Darling Martins, vice-president and daughter of the samba school's president. “The whole world is looking at Itaquera and they’ll want to know what happened here after the World Cup. It’s time to work to realise our dreams and projects. We’re going to continue to fight, more than ever".
