What are the rights of the appropriated on the Northern ES railway?
- Jul 24, 2025
- 3 min read
Expropriation represents the power of the State to interfere in private property (primacy of the public interest)
The Gazeta reported, on Monday (14), the approval for the start of the Railway works in the North of Espírito Santo, in a stretch connecting São Mateus and Barra de São Francisco (EF-03) and Barra de São Francisco to Santana do Paraíso, in Minas Gerais (EF 456).
With the publication of the Public Utility Decree, the Petrocity Group, responsible for the railway, must immediately begin a series of expropriations of farms and other private areas to make the project feasible.
What does this, in practice, mean for the owners of farms and properties that should be affected?
Expropriation represents the power of the State to interfere in private property (primacy of the public interest). Although, with the authorization of the law, some private companies may be authorized to conduct the process, its foundation is in the public interest, in the realization of a work that meets a relevant objective, related to social development or the collective interest of improving the country's infrastructure.
It is exactly for this reason that the "public utility" must be declared, either by the head of the executive, federal, state or municipal power, or by a public body to which this power is delegated, such as the National Land Transport Agency - ANTT.
The mere declaration of public utility does not expropriate or remove anyone's property. Individuals whose areas are affected by the document do not lose their property or possession rights. However, from this moment on, relevant restrictions begin to arise.
The first of the restrictions is the right to build improvements on goods already declared of public utility. If the owner, after the declaration, builds sheds, fences, or makes other improvements, none of this will be subject to compensation. Only constructions and improvements proven to be carried out before the declaration will be subject to compensation, except in the case of works necessary for the conservation of the property and to avoid its deterioration.
The second of the restrictions is in the right of the entities responsible for the expropriation to enter the property, so that they can carry out measurements and evaluations, in order to define the fair value of the compensation, as well as relevant aspects for the future work. The private individual does not have the right to prevent access to his private property, although he can agree with those responsible the best times and conditions for visits and evaluations.
Once the necessary studies have been carried out, the owner affected by the expropriation has the right to receive a notification, with the exact indication of the amount of compensation for his property and with the presentation of a detailed sketch, indicating exactly the place to be affected by the expropriation.
The indemnity must remunerate not only the value of the bare land, but also for all the improvements present in the property before the date of the declaration of public utility, as well as establish any values that the expropriated, reasonably, may no longer earn from the expropriation.
This is the case of expropriation of areas where there is relevant economic activity, in which, also within the compensation, it should be determined what the owner will no longer earn, in the face of tremors, pollution or noises that affect his property, or even when he is prevented from carrying out the harvest or even carrying out an enterprise on site.
The evaluation should follow a precise metric, based on the comparison to the market value of other goods with the same access characteristics, climatic conditions, proximity to urban centers and, mainly, of similar total area.
Once notified, the private individual has a period of 15 days to say if he agrees with the compensation proposal. Agreeing, the expropriation can occur without a judicial process. Not agreeing, the private obliges the expropriator to file an expropriation action, where the compensation is deposited, and the private individual can immediately receive the amount, while discussing the fair value of the compensation and questioning the offer he considered inadequate.
It is very important that society is attentive to these circumstances, so that the public interest of carrying out works that improve the quality of life of people or allow the development of the country is not met against the right of people and at the expense of the freedom and property of those neighbors to the railway.
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