Pouso Alegre (MG), 8/19/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Declaring that there is nothing worse for a city, a state or a nation than the problem of famous public works that get started but are not completed, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has announced that work will begin on the recovery of 9,800 kilometers of highway throughout the country. "Year after year, bridges, railroads, waterways have been announced on TV. And year after year we see that they never get finished," said the president.

Accompanied by the minister of Transportation, Anderson Adauto, and the governor of Minas Gerais, Aecio Neves, the president visited a site where work is taking place on the duplication of the Fernão Dias highway, which connects São Paulo and Belo Horizonte. Lula called the highway an important artery, comparing it to the São Francisco River in the Northeast. "It links Minas to Brazil, and Brazil to Mercosur. And as such, there is no excuse for this important highway to be incomplete," said Lula. (AB)