A Brazilian federal court late Friday ruled to suspend planned construction of a huge hydro-electric dam in the Amazon rainforest region, citing environmental concerns, reported dpa.
The court in its ruling said the environmental requirements for the huge Belo Monte dam project had not been met.
Indigenous groups, environmental organisations and the Catholic Church had massively criticised the plans for the 11,000-megawatt dam, the first phase of which was to have been completed in 2015.
With the suspension, the planned financing of some 11 billion dollars by the national development bank BNDES was also put on ice.