
The Porto Maravilha Urban Operation is a planned and innovative way to (re)build the city. An initiative of the City of Rio de Janeiro, with state and federal government support, the redevelopment restores the importance of this 5-million-square-meter area. Porto Maravilha is a costly operation, entailing R$ 8 billion over 15 years, without the use of municipal treasury funds.
The initial interventions have already restored to the city genuine archaeological treasures, such as the rediscovery of the Valongo Pier. Since the changes underway have not occurred in the city for a long time, a taste for controversy has been rekindled, with the debate about the demolition of the Perimetral Highway and the confusion that works of this magnitude create in regards to traffic conditions.
Porto Maravilha has come on the scene to record all these different actions and establish another channel of communication and transparency for sharing this story of transformation with every citizen.
Who is managing the operation?
Created by Municipal Complementary Law 101/2009, the Porto Maravilha Urban Operation is managed by the Rio de Janeiro Port Region Urban Development Company (Cdurp), established by Complementary Law 102, in 2009.
Cdurp's Mission
Cdurp is in charge of orchestrating actions to integrate and enable urban areas with the aim of giving everyone the right to a sustainable city.
Cdurp's Role
CONCESSIONARY POWER
manages the contract with Concessionária Porto Novo
articulates the Concessionária with the other public agencies MANAGING THE URBAN OPERATION
articulates the Concessionária with the other public agencies, and is accountable to the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM)
participates in the approval of undertakings in conjunction with the Secretaria Municipal de Urbanismo (SMU)
DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
leverages the region's economic and social dynamics
in charge of making part of the land available to the market
What is an Urban Operation in Consortium?
It is a tool for urban policy to stimulate the upgrading of degraded areas. A municipal law authorizes the change in the potential use of construction in the region through financial offsets by the interested parties. The values raised should be invested in the area's urban upgrading.
What is Cepac?

CEPAC is an acronym to describe the name, in Portuguese, of Certificates of Additional Construction Potential, that is, titles used to finance Urban Operations in Consortium, which recover degraded areas in the cities.
The construction potential is the quantity of square meters that can be constructed on a given piece of land, represented in the square meters of area contained in the building's height and number of floors. The law that creates the Porto Maravilha Urban Operation defines a potential increase of construction, which varies according to the sector (see map below). To use the Additional Construction Potential the interested parties should purchase Cepacs.
The money raised by the sale of Cepacs pays for all the works and services of the Porto Maravilha Urban Operation in the 5 million square meters. In this way, the city does not outlay money for the works and also economizes on public services.
The quantity of Cepacs of each undertaking varies with the location of the project and type of use. Fewer Cepacs are needed for residential properties than for nonresidential ones. In certain areas, the difference in quantity can vary as much as 50%. This encourages a mixed occupation while increasing the number of inhabitants.
The preserved areas, on the hills and the fringe of the hills, cannot be modified, that is, there is no additional construction potential. The height of the buildings is limited and does not alter the SAGAS project, which preserves the architectural and cultural heritage of the districts of Saúde, Gamboa and Santo Cristo.
Three percent of the value raised through the sale of the Cepacs is mandatorily applied to the recovery of the region's historical and cultural heritage. At the site www.portomaravilha.com.br/cepac it is possible to calculate the number of Cepacs necessary for the execution of a given project, according to its location and use (mixed, residential or commercial).