A consortium of nine companies has won the right to build a hydroelectric dam on a tributary¹ of the Amazon in Brazil.

一个由九个公司组成的财团赢得了在巴西亚马逊河某支流建设一座水力发电大坝的权利。

Indigenous² tribes say the Belo Monte dam poses a threat to their way of life" width="226" height="170" src="/upimg/100421/4_032327_1.jpg" />
Indigenous tribes say the Belo Monte dam poses a threat to their way of life

Brazil's electricity regulator said the Norte Energia consortium would build the Belo Monte dam, to which indigenous（本土的，国产的） groups and environmentalists object.

It is led by the state-owned Companhia Hidro Eletrica do Sao Francisco.

Officials say the dam on the Xingu River is crucial for development, but critics argue thousands of people will be displaced and an ecosystem³ damaged.

The bidding had been halted（停止，停顿） three times before a final appeal by the government allowed the winning bidder⁴ to be announced.

Low returns

About 500 people gathered on Tuesday outside the offices of the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (Aneel) in the capital, Brasilia, to protest against the auction⁵.

The environmentalist group, Greenpeace, dumped several tonnes of manure⁶（肥料，粪肥） at the door to demonstrate what it said was "the legacy⁷ that the Lula government is leaving by insisting on this project".

But after a last-minute injunction（命令，禁令） was lifted, Aneel announced that Norte Energia had won the rights to develop the Belo Monte dam with an offer of 77.97 reals ($57.12) per megawatt produced.

There was only one other competitor - the Belo Monte consortium（财团，联合） . Earlier this month, two of Brazil's biggest construction companies walked away from the bidding process, saying the financial returns were too low.

The government had set a maximum price of 83 reals per megawatt.

The proposal to build a hydro-electric dam on the Xingu river, a tributary of the Amazon in the northern state of Para, has long been a source of controversy⁸.

The initial project was abandoned in the 1990s amid widespread protests both in Brazil and around the world.

Environmental groups say the Belo Monte dam will threaten the survival of indigenous groups, and the lives of up to 40,000 people could be affected⁹ as 500 sq km of land would be flooded.

Luis Xipaya, an indigenous leader in the city of Altamira, near the proposed dam, said 150 Xikrin Kayapo Indians would move to the construction site by Wednesday.

"There will be bloodshed（流血，杀戮） and the government will be responsible for that," he told the Reuters news agency.