Sep 17, 2020

 On Thursday (17), the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) held the first meeting with the consultants responsible for studying the concession of 5,348 km of federal highways, which spans through 11 Brazilian states. The consortium Logit – ATP – QM – JGP (composed of Logit Engenharia Consultiva Ltda., Future ATP Serviços de Engenharia Consultiva Ltda., Queiroz Maluf Sociedade de Advogados and JGP Consultoria e Participações Ltda.) won BNDES’s process of choosing consultancies for project implementation, which includes technical support services, evaluation, structuring and implementing privatization. 

The Minister of Infrastructure, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, opened the meeting citing highways that are a priority in this process. Such is the case of BR-364/MT/RO, BR-364/060/MT/GO, BR-232/PE and BR-116/290/RS – strategic logistics corridors in the outflow of domestic production, commodities or manufactured products, in the domestic or foreign markets. “We have to get each project up and running and on time, but some I will request to be solved more quickly, because some included highways need urgent solutions,” he said. 

The studies are expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2021, allowing the auctions to be held in 2022. In total, approximately R$ 30 billion in highway investments are planned. The privatization process will not only improve the quality of the highways, but also contribute to reducing accidents in the country. Additionally, it should reduce Federal Government spending on maintaining the highway network, contributing to fiscal balance. 

“When working with highway concessions, we deal with users. Most of them are truckers who so badly need the service. We have an obligation to serve the country and to work for the people. Our mission is not to lose the sense of urgency to transform Brazil,” emphasized BNDES’s president, Gustavo Montezano. 

The work will involve activities such as demand studies, engineering, socio-environmental analyses, indicating improvements and innovations in the highway sector, legal analysis, economic and financial evaluation, drafting of public notice and support for public hearings. The studies will analyze 12 road sections, the largest of which is on BR-101, between Feira de Santana (state of Bahia) and Natal (state of Rio Grande do Norte), with 1,045 km. In addition to Bahia and Rio Grande do Norte, the highways pass through Ceará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Sergipe, Alagoas, Mato Grosso, Goiás, Rondônia and Rio Grande do Sul states.

BNDES will supervise the studies developed, which will serve as the basis for the Federal Government’s decision making on the models to be implemented in the road sections in question.

The process – In May, the Ministry of Infrastructure (Minfra) and BNDES signed a contract to conduct technical studies related to structuring federal road concessions. Its first phase consisted of assessing the pre-feasibility of the road sections, to select those who would receive in-depth studies for structuring the concessions.

From then on, the selection process began to choose consultants responsible for the studies, who will act under the coordination of BNDES. The selection considered both the technical quality of the execution proposals of the services, and the prices offered by competitors. After analyzing the seven proposals submitted, disclosing the notes to the participants and opening the deadline for appeals, those responsible for the three best placed were invited to present new commercial proposals, and the best price was selected. 

About BNDES – Founded in 1952 and currently linked to the Ministry of Economy, BNDES is the main instrument of the Federal Government to promote long-term investments in the Brazilian economy. Its actions focus on socioenvironmental and economic impacts in Brazil. BNDES offers special conditions for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, as well as social investment lines, directed at education and health, family agriculture, sanitation and urban transport. In crisis situations, BNDES acts in an anticyclical manner and assists in formulating solutions for resuming economic growth.