Belo Horizonte is located around 450km north and 550km north east of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo respectively, in the state of Minas Gerais, of which it is the capital. The city has a population of around two and half million, with over five million in the official metropolitan region. Minas Gerais state has a population of just under 20 million, making it the second most populous state in Brazil, behind Sao Paulo.
Belo is a key centre for Australians in Brazil for one reason - mining. The city itself is situated in the heart of mining territory - Minas Gerais literally translates to ‘general mines’ – and a number of Australian companies or their foreign parents are based there, while a range of government and trade groups dedicated to improving links between Brazil and Australia are also active in the city.
The Queensland government in particular has been creating strong links with Belo Horizonte over the last few years, having signed a Joint Declaration of Cooperation with the Minas Gerais state government in February 2008, and former Premier Peter Beattie, now the QLD trade commissioner for the Americas, has visited Belo on a number of occasions, usually with a mining trade mission in tow. Furthermore, Minas Gerais current Governor, Professor Antonio Anastasia, led a 28-strong business and government delegation to Queensland at the beginning of 2008, while one of Belo´s key football teams, Atletico Mineiro, finalised a 'sister club' partnership with the Queensland Roar A-League team, also in 2008.
In terms of the main projects in Belo Horizonte´s World Cup preparations, apart from the refurbishment of Mineirão, the city´s main stadium (details below), the focus is on developing Belo´s already strong standing as a conference and event hub through the creation of additional hotel and business tourism infrastructure, with a range of mostly private projects either planned or already underway. Urban mobility is also a key concern, with a new bus corridor of 5.5km to be built linking the location of the main stadium to the central business district, plus a range of works to expand key roads are also planned; Belo is a compact city and traffic management and public transport are major issues to be addressed before the Cup.
For the refurbishment of Mineirão (translation = big miner) Stadium, which is currently owned and operated by the State Government, the overall plan is to develop a facility capable of winning the right to host the 2014 Cup opener. Although the stadium´s capacity will be reduced from 75,783 to 69,000, it will remain one of the biggest and most impressive in the country, a situation only helped by the massive support the city´s two major football teams, which share tenancy of Mineirão, receive for most matches throughout the season.
The new design is being handled by German group Von Gerkan, Marg & Partner (GMP) in partnership with local architect Gustavo Pena, however the main construction contract is yet to be determined, with the tender set to open within the next two months. The contract will include the refurbishment and operation/maintenance of the new Mineirão for the next 25 years, with the work currently budgeted at $636 million reals (AU$1 = R$1.6), up to 75% of which will be eligible for special financing offered to all Cup stadium projects through Brazil´s National Development Bank (BNDES). Principal works include an additional 3,000+ covered parking spaces, an extended, lightweight roof and new corporate hospitality facilities of 8,000sqm.
The new stadium will have three tenants, Clube Atletico Mineiro, Cruzeiro, and America (Mineiro), which will each have 54,000 tickets per home match, with the operator utilising the remaining 15,000 seats, which will mainly be reserved and corporate hospitality level ticketing. A major challenge for the operator will be developing alternative uses for the facility beyond football, a modern-day requirement that the State Government, as the manager of Mineirão up until now, has done little to realise.
