It was May 2011 when the government of Mato Grosso do Sul announced the authorization to build the advertised largest freshwater aquarium in the world, formerly known as the Pantanal Aquarium. Almost 11 years later, this Monday (28), the imposing work will finally be inaugurated, renamed Bioparque Pantanal. The opening to the general public, however, will take longer and will only take place on May 1.
The years were marked by an operation by the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) that pointed out irregularities in the delayed construction, allegations of corruption involving former governor André Puccinelli (MDB), under which the work was launched and began, and a price final bid much higher than the initial bid.
In addition, the animals spent years in temporary aquariums, under the care of research teams who were looking for the correct adaptation of the animals. Some are even threatened with extinction.
The circular building design is by Ruy Ohtake, son of artist Tomie Ohtake and renowned creator of buildings in the capital of São Paulo. The architect died in 2021 and without seeing the opening of the aquarium to the population – according to himself, very fond of his works.
The aquarium, located in the Parque das Nações Indígenas, in Campo Grande, has 32 tanks (24 indoors and eight outdoors) for fish from the Pantanal, which make up around 80% of the species in the facilities. There are also animals from the Amazon, North America, Africa, Asia and Oceania, which were imported to live there.
The work, which was initially budgeted and was bid for R$ 84.7 million and lasted 900 days, ended up costing more than R$ 200 million to the coffers of Mato Grosso do Sul, according to the current administration, under Governor Reinaldo Azambuja ( PSDB), and was delayed for almost a decade.
In the midst of the delay and the increase in costs, an MPF operation called Lama Asfáltica pointed out, in a series of complaints in recent years, possible irregularities in contracts related to the construction of the aquarium and other works and facts involving the Puccinelli government, which he was arrested preventively.
In September last year, in an interview with radio Capital 95 FM, Puccinelli stated that the preventive detention was illegal and had no motivation. “I have no conviction so far. So, condemn first, at least in the first instance. At that moment, it was a political act,” said the former governor. To the Correio do Estado Portal, on the accusations of Lama Asfáltica, Puccinelli said he was innocent.
In the MPF’s complaints related to the aquarium, the prosecutor points out that the company that was initially supposed to carry out the work transferred it illegally and “with the express support of the Government of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, through Agesul [Agência Estadual de Gestão de Empreendimentos]”, all the duties and rights for another company, pressured by it and by Agesul. Again according to the MPF, there would be certainty among those involved in the case of an “agreement, between the Government of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul/Agesul and the then executor of the work, of an additive term of value”.
There were 5 contractual amendments in all, one of the factors that led to the increase in the cost of the project. In addition, citing the CGU (Comptroller General of the Union), the MPF points out that about two thirds of the services initially planned in the construction were “rescheduled”. This means removing a series of items from the project and including others that, according to the prosecutor, “did not go through a bidding process”.
In the midst of all this, the works were paralyzed for years and only resumed in 2019.
But the story doesn’t end there. The Lama Asfáltica operation was put in check by recent court decisions, which followed the declaration of partiality by former judge Sergio Moro by the STF (Supreme Federal Court).
In December last year, the Fifth Class of the TRF-3 (Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region) declared the suspicion of federal judge Bruno Cezar da Cunha Teixeira —who was in charge of the actions related to Asfáltica Mud— in one of the actions involving the former federal deputy Edson Giroto (MDB) —who was state secretary for Public Works and Transport in the Puccinelli government— and annulled all decision-making acts since receiving the complaint.
The decision came after Giroto’s defense alleged that Teixeira had acted with “excessive accusatory eloquence”, with a “clearly inquisitorial or accusatory stance” during the testimony of three defense witnesses. The magistrate, at the time, denied the accusations and said there was no compromise on his impartiality.
With the decision of the TRF-3, the processes related to the former governor, who is already a pre-candidate for the state government of Mato Grosso do Sul, were suspended.
“It is not my competence to judge, but we all disapprove of the way in which the construction of the Pantanal Aquarium was carried out, today with a new name, Bioparque Pantanal”, he said by email to sheet Reinaldo Azambuja, who recently declared that he should not run for any elective office in this year’s elections.
The governor recalls the suspicions of embezzlement of resources and says that, between building an aquarium and a hospital, he would choose the second.
In any case, according to him, the bidding process and the works on the aquarium were resumed after authorization from the Court. “The work was completed and is now being delivered to the population,” said Azambuja. “And what have we learned from all this? The need for planning, seriousness, transparency and responsibility in public management. The best and most necessary work is not the one preferred by the manager, but the one that meets the needs of the population, that promotes the collective good.”
How’s the water?
While all the legal troubles unfolded, the fish were already in the water. Considering that the work was to have been delivered in 2013, there were already thousands of animals waiting, in a temporary space, for the new house to be completed.
Biologist Heriberto Gimênes Junior has been following the fish in the temporary tanks since 2015 and even doubted, at times, that the aquarium would ever come out. According to the ichthyologist, the thought was that “regardless of the aquarium, our laboratory will work”.
That’s what ended up becoming the temporary space: the Ichthyology laboratory that, even with the completion of the aquarium, will be maintained by Imasul (Environment Institute of Mato Grosso do Sul), according to Gimênes Junior, technical coordinator. The researchers working there managed to reproduce 63 species. “There are animals that we see here that we follow from the egg and they are already three years old inside the tank”, he says.
The specialist says that, even in temporary installations, the fish did not suffer and that the period without a definitive aquarium was used to study the management protocols (behavior, feeding, reproduction) of the animals.
Gimênes Junior tells, for example, of the complexity of adaptation and reproduction in captivity of the black raccoon (Loricaria coximensis), endemic fish of the Coxim River and critically endangered.
The new aquarium now has 187 species from the Pantanal alone. Added to other areas of the world, the place has about 220 species of animals.
The threatened mealworm is, inside the aquarium, one of the biologist’s favorite animals. “This includes the conservation of species. This is one of the pillars of a public aquarium. Conservation, environmental education, well-being and leisure”, he says.
But the aquarium’s darling is Jussara, a friendly stingray (potamotrygon falkneri) that usually eats out of the hands of researchers.
And, as soon as it debuted, the new house already has new residents. The laboratory coordinator says that the first reproduction in the aquarium has already taken place. And it is a new species of lambari, which has not yet been described. It was discovered recently by scientists on an expedition in tributaries of the Correntes River, between the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul.
