Aug 30, 2011

The BNDES has approved R$ 400 million in financing to remodel and refit the Governador Magalhães Pinto soccer stadium, known as Mineirão, which will be one of the venues of the 2014 World Soccer Cup in Brazil.

The operation is within the scope of the BNDES ProCopa Arenas program and such funding will be earmarked for Minas Arena Gestão de Instalações Esportivas S.A., a Special Purpose Enterprise (SPE) comprising the engineering companies Construcap, Egesa and HAP.

The consortium will be responsible for remodeling and operating the equipment for 27 years, in accordance with the Public and Private Partnership (PPP) framework established by the state government. Besides the arena, its surrounding esplanade, parking lot and footbridge connecting Mineirinho were also included in the request for bid, making up the “Minerão Complex”. The framework was prepared by Estruturadora Brasileira de Projetos (EBP), a company comprising several institutions, including the BNDES.

Mineirão, the country’s second largest stadium in capacity and average audience, is located in Belo Horizonte and is the only arena in Brazil that hosts almost all the matches of two large soccer clubs, Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro, which do not have their own stadium. This prevents revenues from being deviated.

The project also includes the multipurpose concept: commerce, culture and tourism, which contributes to increasing its ratio of usage. The stadium is in Pampulha, an affluent region in Belo Horizonte, with potential to develop tourism and leisure activities, according to a survey conducted by the state government.

As IPHAN and the municipal architectonic estate have declared Mineirão a cultural heritage, the project – already approved by such agencies – will preserve the external façade and will include interventions to its surroundings that will not compromise visibility. Its leading guidelines are: reconstruction of  the lower grand stands, preserving the top stands and extending the existing roof.

Sustainable solutions were also incorporated, such as: rain water recycling, natural lighting as well as ventilation and reducing consumption and emissions of energy through geothermal cooling and bioethanol applications.

The stadium seats a total of 65,000 people and will be carried out in accordance with FIFA requirements for the opening, final and semifinal matches. Completion is estimated for December 2012, thus, in time to be eligible to host the Confederations Cup matches, in 2013.

Over the construction phase, the estimate is to generate 1,500 to 2,500 direct jobs and another 6,000 indirect jobs. In the operational phase, between some 200 and 300 direct and another 1,000 indirect job are expected.