Belo Horizonte Urban Drainage Program (DRENURBS)

The Challenge

The DRENURBS – Belo Horizonte Environmental Recovery Program – was created to address structural problems related to urban waters and the environmental degradation of the city’s watersheds. The central challenge was to restore natural watercourses, reduce flood risks, improve water quality and strengthen municipal management of drainage and the environment.

The main challenges included:

• Restoring and revitalizing non channelized streams, combating erosion, siltation, and pollution.
• Implementing linear parks and leisure areas in valley bottoms, integrating drainage infrastructure with high quality public spaces (such as 1º de Maio, Nossa Senhora da Piedade and Baleares Parks).
• Implementing flood control solutions such as detention basins, drainage tunnels, and micro drainage networks.
• Carrying out expropriations and resettlements, especially in the Engenho Nogueira and Bonsucesso basins—to ensure safety for vulnerable families.
• Integrating sanitation, drainage, local mobility and landscape recovery actions across five sub basins with distinct physical and social characteristics.
• Promoting environmental education and institutional actions to ensure long term sustainability of the interventions.

Due to its multisectoral nature, DRENURBS required rigorous technical coordination, integration among municipal agencies, compliance with IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) standards, and intensive management of works, contracts, and procurement processes.

The Solution

Tractebel implemented a comprehensive solution involving program management, governance, financial control, process supervision, and institutional support, ensuring effectiveness across all fronts of the program. The approach combined engineering, public management, and technical administrative support to structure a sustainable and auditable program.

1) Program Management and Governance

• Physical and financial control of activities, ensuring agility and accuracy in decision making.
• Full support to procurement processes, including terms of reference and technical specifications.
• Preparation and revision of operational plans, Procurement Action Plans, and organization of the program’s operational workflow.
• Implementation and operation of administrative software, and definition of general standards and procedures.
• Cataloging and archiving of technical, administrative, and financial documents.
• Preparation of the Program Execution Manual.

2) Financial Management and Strategic Reporting

• Support for financial reporting, transfers, and disbursements between IDB, SMOBI, and the city’s financial institutions.
• Preparation of managerial and semiannual reports submitted to the IDB.
• Support to internal and external program audits.
• Establishment of the Chart of Accounts and standardization of measurement and payment procedures.

3) Technical and Intersectoral Support

• Review and support in the preparation of technical reports.
• Monitoring of the Environmental and Social Management Plan.
• Technical assistance to IDB consultants during field missions.
• Integration with related municipal programs: BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development), FHIDRO (State Water Resources Fund), PAC (Growth Acceleration Program), and major strategic projects such as SIGEOR.

4) Administrative Supervision of Works

Although Tractebel was not responsible for engineering field supervision, the scope included:
• Support in processing measurements and payments.
• Administrative monitoring of works, contracts, and schedules.
• Support for global and strategic planning of the program.
With this integrated and standardized solution, Tractebel ensured safe, transparent, and efficient execution of a highly complex urban drainage program.

The Impact

Tractebel’s contributions significantly enhanced the municipality’s public management capacity in urban drainage and environmental sustainability. The DRENURBS program delivered:

• Revitalization of watercourses and improved sanitation conditions in several sub basins of Belo Horizonte.
• Reduction of flood risks through detention basins, micro drainage systems, and structural hydraulic works.
• Construction of linear parks and leisure areas, promoting social integration, safety, and urban value.
• Institutional strengthening of the municipality through more robust financial, documentary, and environmental management procedures.
• More efficient audit processes with greater transparency and compliance with IDB rules.
• Improved technical capacity of the municipality to operate complex and integrated infrastructure and sustainability programs.