Uberlândia

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Uberlândia is a city on the Rio Uberabinha in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. With a population of 600,001, it is the second largest city in the state after Belo Horizonte, the capital.

Municipality building

Latitude - 18°55′23″

Longitude - 48°17′19″

Elevation - 650 to 900 meters

Rainfall Index - 1,500 to 1,600 mm

Area of the municipality: 4,115.9 km²

Population density: 138.7 hab/km²

Postal code (CEP): 38400-000

[edit] Location, Communications, and Infrastructure

Located in the Triângulo Mineiro, (the Minas Gerais triangle) one of the richest agricultural regions of Brazil, Uberlândia is connected to major cities by the following federal highways: BR-050, BR-365, BR-455, BR-452, and BR-497. There are railway connections via the north-south Centro-Atlântica.

Uberlândia is well fitted with logistic facilities. With its privileged location in the central region of Brazil, the city has some of the best logistic equipment in the country: there are eight highways, with one being transformed into a four lane motorway, the FEPASA railway, more than 1.5 million tons capacity of cereal storage, and more than five thousand trucks to deliver products to companies.

Self-sufficient in electric energy, Uberlândia can rely on 12 large power plants in operation and two more under construction in a radius of 250 km.

Uberlândia has the third largest airport in Minas Gerais and the 27th in Brazil in number of passengers transported, with flights operating to São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Goiânia, Brasília, Ribeirão Preto, Uberaba and charter flights to the capitals of the Northeast in the high season.

The city also has several colleges and a federal university, the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, with a university population of approximately thirty thousand students.

[edit] Economic Importance in Brazil

Uberlândia takes in a consumer market of three and a half million inhabitants, being the link between the great urban centers of the coast and the hinterland of the country. In a radius of 600 km. around Uberlândia there are 50 million inhabitants, responsible for almost two thirds of the Brazilian GDP, which corresponds to two Argentinian economies.

Uberlândia is the main pole of this region. It is the eighth city in the country in payment of federal taxes and the twentieth considering all the taxes. It is the third city in Minas Gerais in state taxes, after the capital Belo Horizonte and the municipality of Betim, where several automobile assembly plants are located.