Port of Recife to become a space for leisure and cultural pursuits

The Port of Recife will give a new appearance to this region which is home to one of the most important tourist attractions of the capital of Pernambuco. The warehouses that are close to the Zero Mark (the heart of the city) will be refurbished, as part of the New Port (Porto Novo) project.

The requalification of the sheds will require an investment of some R$ 50 million (€ 21.95 million) from the Government of the State of Pernambuco. According to the Engineering and Operations Manager of the Port of Recife, Hermes Delgado, the warehouses are no longer an operational area within the Port. “The concept of the project is that of preserving the image of the port. What is most interesting in all this is that we can thus return one of the most impressive landscapes of the city back to the District of Recife”.

Warehouse 10 will be converted into a Luiz Gonzaga Memorial and will also have an investment of R$ 23 million (€ 10.10 million) from the Brazilian Ministry for Culture (MINC). MINC has signed an agreement with the Port of Recife, which is responsible for the execution of the project.

The project has been made by architecture firm Brasil Arquitetura, based in São Paulo. “The dossier as planned here will be that of an interactive museum, not unlike the Portuguese Language Museum in São Paulo. These technologies are already being developed”, says Mr Delgado.

The agreement has already been signed and warehouse 10 is now being demolished. The building was rendered as unusable by the Civil Defence of Pernambuco and will be reconstructed with the same building characteristics as the former shed.

The State Government also plans to transform warehouses 11, 12, 13 and 14 into locations for cultural and leisure pursuits.  Warehouse 11 will become the Pernambuco Handicrafts Center, a space for exhibitions and also the commercialization of handicrafts.

Warehouse 12 will be a venue for trade fairs and other events and will also have offices on the 1st floor. Warehouse 13 will be used for the implementation of shops and offices, while Warehouse 14 will become a cultural center.

This location will have a 500-seater theatre, a cinema for 150 people, and also a space reserved for other leisure activities, such as a bowling alley, for example. On the outside of Warehouse 14, a stage will be erected, to host shows.

The New Port project also includes the construction of the Maritime Passenger Terminal, which will have resources from the second phase of the Growth Acceleration Plan (Plano de Aceleração do Crescimento 2 - PAC 2). According to Mr Delgado, the expectation is that the construction of the terminal and also the recovery of all the warehouses should be completed by the end of 2012.