Integrated Planning for the Transportation Sector in the Amazon: Methodology for Analyzing and Ranking Transportation Infrastructure Investment Alternatives in the Amazon

The availability of transportation infrastructure is a necessary element for promoting economic development. The interrelationship between the level or degree of influence that investments have on the economy has been the subject of discussion in works developed by various authors over the last few decades (Ashauer, 1989 and Munnell, 1990). And, especially with regard to the transport sector, there are significant variations in the results of analyses of this influence in different countries. It has also been noted that other factors combined with infrastructure have been responsible for encouraging development (Gillen, 1996; Talley, 1996; Vickerman et al., 1999; Tan, 2001; Mc Cann and Shefer, 2004; Holl, 2004, Pereira and Andraz, 2005; OECD, 2005; Teixeira, 2006; Yamaguchi 2006; Araújo, 2006 and Kovács and Spens, 2006). In Brazil, as in several countries around the world, it has been found that the provision of transport infrastructure was essential for promoting regional development (Diniz, 2001 and Caiado, 2002), but not sufficient in itself to justify the set of requirements for triggering development (Toyoshima, 2002).