Transport

Brazil has a large and diverse transport network. Roads are the primary carriers of freight and passenger traffic. The road system totaled 1.98 million km (1.23 million mi) in 2002. The total of paved roads increased from 35,496 km (22,056 mi) in 1967 to 184,140 km (114,425 mi) in 2002.

Brazil’s railway system has been declining since 1945, when emphasis shifted to highway construction. The total length of railway track was 30,875 km (19,186 mi) in 2002, as compared with 31,848 km (19,789 mi) in 1970.

Most of the railway system belongs to the Federal Railroad Corp., with a majority government interest. The government also privatized seven lines in 1997. The São Paulo Metro was the first underground transit system in Brazil. The other metro systems are in Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Recife, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Teresina, Fortaleza, and Salvador.

There are about 2,500 airports in Brazil, including landing fields: the second largest number in the world, after the United States.[227] São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport, near São Paulo, is the largest and busiest airport, handling the vast majority of popular and commercial traffic of the country and connecting the city with virtually all major cities across the world.

Coastal shipping links widely separated parts of the country. Bolivia and Paraguay have been given free ports at Santos. Of the 36 deep-water ports, Santos, Itajaí, Rio Grande, Paranaguá, Rio de Janeiro, Sepetiba, Vitória, Suape, Manaus and São Francisco do Sul are some of the most important.

Communications

Brazil has both modern technologies in the center-south portion, counting with 3G HSDPA, VDSL2+, Digital Tv. Other areas of the country, particularly the north and north-west regions, lack even basic analogue land line phones. This is a problem that the governnment is trying to solve by linking the liberation of new technologies (such as WiMax or PLC) only tied with compromises on extension of the service to less populated regions.

Internet has become quite popular in Brazil, with steadily growing numbers in adhesion and disponibility, with numbers that positions Brazil at the 6th spot on number of users. Many technologies are actually in use to bring Broadband Internet to consumers, with ADSL and its variants being the most used, and 3G Technologies.

As of 31 December 2007, there were an estimated 21,304,000 broadband lines in Brazil. Over 75 percent of the broadband lines were via DSL and 10 percent via cable modems.

Under the Brazilian constitution, television and radio are not treated as telecommunication in a way to avoid creating problems with a series of regulamentations that reduce and control how international businesses and persons participate on it. It is worth mentioning that Brazil has the 4th biggest media conglomerate in the world, Rede Globo.

Water Supply and Sanitation

Water supply and sanitation in Brazil is characterized by both achievements and challenges. The water and sanitation sector has gradually evolved over time. The changes that have occurred have largely been the product of political, economic, social and cultural factors external to the sector.

Among the achievements is an increase in access to piped water supply from 66% to 77% between 1990 and 2006; an increase in access to improved sanitation from 71% to 77% in the same period; a functioning national system to finance water and sanitation infrastructure; a high level of cost recovery compared to most other developing countries; as well as a number of notable technical and financial innovations such as condominial sewerage and an output-based subsidy for treated wastewater called PRODES.

Among the challenges is the still high number of poor Brazilians living in urban slums and in rural areas without access to piped water or sanitation; water scarcity in the Northeast of Brazil; water pollution, especially in the South-East of the country; the low share of collected wastewater that is being treated (35% in 2000); and long-standing tensions between the federal, state and municipal governments about their respective roles in the sector.

Access to piped water supply in Brazil stood at 77% and access to improved sanitation also at 77% in 2006. Coverage is significantly higher in urban areas, where 84% of the Brazilian population live. Urban coverage is 96% for water and 83% for improved sanitation, including 53% access to sewerage, the remainder being accounted for by on-site sanitation.

Coverage in rural areas, where 16% of Brazil’s population lives, is much lower. It stands at 57% for improved water supply and only 37% for improved sanitation. Geographically coverage is lowest in the country’s poorest regions: particularly in predominantly rural North, Northeast, and Center-West. Reaching poor urban neighborhoods remains a challenge. This frequently requires non-conventional approaches.

While Brazil has pioneered the use of low cost appropriate technology (such as condominial sewers) and active community participation it still faces the challenge of the many informal peri-urban settlements, called favelas, often situated on steep slopes or in flood plains. An example of how the government addresses these issues is the World Bank-supported Low Income Sanitation Technical Assistance Project PROSANEAR.