1.
AERIAL V New road through jungle (2 shots)
0.14

2.
GV Lorries along road
0.21

3.
TRAVEL SHOT ALONG New road passing through jungle
0.29

4.
AERIAL VIEW Construction of new town, 'Agrovila' (agricultural town) Brazil Novo (2 shots)
0.40

5.
GV New road at Altamira with direction boards overhead (3 shots)
0.50

6.
SV President Medici arrives and greeted by officials
1.00

7.
GV Inauguration ceremony officials
1.01

8.
CU President raises flag (2 shots)
1.14

9.
TRAVEL SHOT ALONG New road with construction vehicle passing
1.20



Initials BB/0226 WLW/AW/BB/0241



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: President Emilio Medici of Brazil opened a section of the giant Trans Amazon Highway on Wednesday (September 27), which when completed in 1977 will link the eastern and western coasts of South America. On the same tour, he inaugurated a new agricultural town, 'Brazil Novo', 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the regional centre of Altamira. The town, built up from a road camp, is one of several such centres planned to be strung out along the highway at 60-mile (96-kilometre) intervals.

The section opened runs from Eatreito to Itaituba, covering 1,250-kilometres (775-miles). Eventually the highway, which has already opened up vast areas for deforestation and agricultural development, will link up with the Peruvian road system to run 5,000-kilometres (3,300-miles) from Joao Pesson on the Brazilian coast to Lima, on the Pacific seaboard. It will cost about 500-million (U.S.A.) dollars, most of it in a loan from the world bank. In addition to agricultural exploitation--although the region has been condemned by some international scientists as ecologically unquitable--the road will open up vast areas of hitherto inaccessible mineral wealth. This is estimated to include 8,000-million tons of iron ore, and large deposits of manganese, uranium, copper, il, tin, lead, gold and diamonds.

SYNOPSIS: A new section of the giant Transamazon highway, planned to link the east and west coasts of South America across three-thousand-two-hundred-miles, was opened on Wednesday by President Emilio Medici of Brazil. The section, which runs for seven-hundred-and-seventy-five miles, has already opened up vast areas of Brazil's Amazon interior for agricultural exploitation--although some international scientists claim cutting down the trees will destroy the balance of nature and turn the area into a desert.

Nevertheless, agricultural development is being pushed ahead. During his tour, President Medici also inaugurated 'Brazil Novo', an agricultural town typical of several along the highway, built up from road construction camps. And at Altamira, a small town now booming with the influx of road-workers' money, the inauguration of the new section took place with a flag-raising by the President.

The road, costing about five-hundred-million-dollars, is also opening up vast areas of previously inaccessible mineral deposits. Eventually, the dirt surface will be paved to make it an all-weather, transcontinental route of several carriageways--and one of the world's most magnificent super-highways.