Opened in 1921, Cais Mauá is one of the three piers that form the city’s river port. The area is at the southern end of the port, is 3,240 meters long with about 187,000 square meters. The port activities were closed in 2005 and the state government has been seeking to stimulate projects that aim to adapt the place to be used by the population and for tourism for some time.

 

BNDES will be helped by a consortium of consulting firms to be contracted through a competition to prepare the destatization model for the area. The whole model will be widely discussed with society. Public, virtual and face-to-face hearings, research and workshops with civil society are planned to gather their opinions and suggestions. After these phases, the bidding process to be conducted by the state will be prepared.

 

“We are convinced that we have a good opportunity in our hands, we are aware of the mission and pride that this is for the city [of Porto Alegre], for the state [of Rio Grande do Sul] and for Brazil,” said BNDES President Gustavo Montezano. According to BNDES’s Director of Privatizations, Leonardo Cabral, “our entire team is motivated to offer the population a project that will give this equipment back to the city. We will seek a project that rescues the historical importance of the area, that understands the current context of the city and integrates these two strands for the benefit of the population.”

 

To make investments in Cais Mauá feasible, the state government will decide what model will best fit the project: concession, public-private partnership (PPP), divestment, investment fund or other possible modalities. In addition to the direct gains from the privatization of the area, the project should seek to incorporate elements of tourism, innovation, culture and entertainment, to stimulate the local economy.

 

“The feasibility of this business will only take place because we have a partner with the quality of BNDES to develop the model that will effectively define how this project is better organized, so as to justify the private interest and reconcile it with the public interest of a revitalized area that will mean a lot to Porto Alegre from an economic point of view,” governor Eduardo Leite says.

 

Although Cais Mauá is close to a wide range of cultural equipment, public spaces and transport centers, a flood containment wall and a railway line impair urban interaction between the city, the port and the Guaíba River. Moreover, the pavilions listed by the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan) as heritage in 1983 continue to deteriorate because of the failure to implement a project to revitalize the existing properties and equipment on the site.

 

The objective of the state government is to enable the necessary investments for a qualified project to revitalize the area, which is considered noble for the municipality of Porto Alegre and for the state itself, and that brings together natural beauties, history and a privileged space near the historic downtown area and access to the city.

 

The partnership with the state – Rio Grande do Sul is today the Federation unit with more initiatives underway at BNDES. In addition, it became the first state to sign a technical cooperation agreement with BNDES to assess the potential of its public real estate assets. Cais Mauá is the first project converted into a contract.

 

BNDES is already responsible for the privatization projects of the State Electric Power Company (CEEE) and the Gas Company of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Sulgás). BNDES’s portfolio also holds the concession of a package of more than 1,000 kilometers of state highways and the structuring of public-private partnerships in the areas of sanitation, public safety and state parks.

 

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. BNDES’s actions focus on the socioenvironmental and economic impact 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 the formulation of solutions for the resumption of economic growth.