At stake: the private model of urban management

Interview with Ricardo Bueno, director of construction works for ‘Concessionária Porto Novo’

A major undertaking in the Porto Maravilha Project (an initiative to renew and requalify an area of 5 million square meters in Rio de Janeiro’s Port Zone) involves challenges and solutions that are equally grandiose. The project requires profound technical knowledge, first-rate equipment, very sophisticated logistics and a great deal of planning. One cannot overlook, however, the willingness to listen to the community that will be directly affected by the works in order to mitigate the major impact that such work can cause to daily life in the city. All this is being measured and pondered during interventions that range from changing the model of garbage collection to the demolition of a large elevated expressway which was acknowledged for years as essential to the region’s roadway infrastructure.

Ricardo Bueno, director of construction works for the ‘Concessionária Porto Novo’ (New Port Concessionaire) speaks of these issues with the assuredness of those who feel supported by carefully thought out and precise actions engaged by a group of companies that took upon themselves the risk of changing urban area management paradigms. Bueno speaks of the financial engineering that has enabled the project to come off the drawing board, of the initial results that are already noticeable with the change in the model of urban operation in the region, of the technical solutions adopted to meet the challenges of the work, and of the design concept for the system of roads (thoroughfares) and transports whose ultimate goal is to enable the sustainable development of the region. “This is a new, pioneering experience which may change the paradigms that we know for the management of urban environments in Brazil,” Bueno assures.

Grandes Construções – How was financial engineering engaged in obtaining funding to enable the investments that the Porto Maravilha Project required?

Ricardo Bueno – It was through the issuance of public bonds, similar to what was done in São Paulo for operation Águas Espraiadas and Faria Lima. Bonds called “Certificados de Potencial Adicional de Construção’ (CEPACs - Ccertificates of Additional Construction Potential) were issued and offered at auction where they were purchased in their entirety by the ‘Caixa Econômica Federal’ (Federal Savings and Loan). (Editor’s note: CEPACs are securities issued by the city government, used as a means of payment in consideration for the granting of an urban construction permit, aka “Direito Urbanístico Adicional”, within the perimeter of an ‘Operação Urbana Consorciada’ (Consortium for Urban Operation). Each CEPAC corresponds to a particular value of a square meter (m²) for use in an additional area of construction or for modification of the uses and parameters of an area of land or of a project. Money from the sale of CEPACs pays all works and services of Porto Maravilha Urban Operation in its 5 million square meters. Consequently, the city itself does not disburse any money for the works and furthermore saves on public services/utilities.)

Grandes Construções – Are these securities / bonds already being traded on the market?

Ricardo Bueno – From the introductions we've seen in the realty market, yes. There is a building that is being announced on this very piece of land that we’re standing on; where today we have our Administrative Work Site. It is the Caixa Econômica now that is evaluating the developments in the realty market for the region. As the projects move forward in this area, these securities are traded and appreciate in value.

Grandes Construções – Who manages all the interventions that are performed in the area of Porto Maravilha?

Ricardo Bueno – Rio de Janeiro’s City Hall created a company called ‘Companhia do Desenvolvimento da Região Portuária’ (CEDURP – Company for the Development of the Port Region),which is the great manager of the Porto Maravilha Project. It was CEDURP, incidentally, that called for the tender and that hired us. CEDURP carried out all the assessments of the projects for the development of the port region.

Grandes Construções – Does CEDURP do that directly or is it assisted by another company that specializes in management?

Ricardo Bueno – CEDURP has engaged an organization to manage the construction - a management consortium that monitors the work; that provides technical support both as regards the verification of the quality of the services that are rendered and the progress of the work.

Grandes Construções – So there is a concessionaire that has won a tender bid for a management partnership over an area and that concessionaire has hired a building consortium. Even so, it still accountable for reporting the schedules of such works to a public entity? Or does the concessionaire itself manage such schedules and monitor the execution of the works at stage of the project’s construction?

Ricardo Bueno – There are two assessments. One is the evaluation of public services in the region, which has the concessionaire as an operating company. The concessionaire already performs services such as garbage collection, it handles the sweeping of public streets, performs the maintenance of traffic lights and street lighting. And it is evaluated as to how it renders these services. The other evaluation concerns the monitoring of the construction works. In this aspect, the concessionaire is evaluated every six months to check whether progress in the execution of the works is indeed being made according to schedule.

Grandes Construções – Is there any sort of payment made in consideration for such public services that the concessionaire has already been rendering?

Ricardo Bueno – Yes, there is a payment that is made monthly and based on the assessment of the quality of services rendered. Every month there is a report and the corresponding payment is proportional to the grade given in the assessment of the quality of the services.

Grandes Construções – With that experience – in earmarking a particular urban area, where excellence is sought as regards urban equipment, thoroughfare system, management, etc. – does the initiative seek to create a model that can be replicated in the future and on a larger scale in other areas of the city?

Ricardo Bueno – Yes, that is the pioneer model. The idea is to produce a new paradigm of quality in the rendering of public services. And he companies involved in this experiment strongly believe that this model can be replicated, even in other capital cities, in other cities, changing the existing model. So this is a private company rendering a public service to the community.

Grandes Construções – In the area of traffic management, for example, how has the concessionaire been proceeding while aware of the fact that there is an agency that is responsible for the management of traffic – namely, the ‘Companhia de Engenharia de Tráfego’ – CET-Rio (Traffic Engineering Company - Rio)?

Ricardo Bueno – We have, at this time, over 120 traffic agents in activity and a network of surveillance cameras installed on the perimeter of Porto Maravilha coordinating the various fronts, handling traffic operations. This structure is connected to an Operations Control Center which monitors the traffic.

Grandes Construções – But isn’t that two organizations – one public and one private – performing the same roles? Because CET-Rio already does that.

Ricardo Bueno – This work is aligned with CET-Rio. This team manages traffic within the project area, always in alignment with CET-Rio. But the one who coordinates the interventions in traffic, at the perimeter of the project, is always Concessionária Porto Novo and its team in charge of traffic. And CET-Rio provides support if there is an extension that goes beyond the limits of the project, beyond the operation of the concessionaire, or if the interventions in the region cause an impact on the region outside the port area. The part that involves the issuing of ordinances, for example, is an attribution of government and, thus, is done by the CET. Therefore, the work of managing traffic is a four-handed job performed by the concessionaire’s traffic management team and the CET-Rio team.

Grandes Construções – Have you been able to measure initial results stemming from the beginning of private management?

Ricardo Bueno – Yes, we’ve already had considerable results, both in reducing the number of accidents and in providing support operations with the use of tow trucks to remove disabled vehicles from public streets, results in the ‘Viaduto da Perimetral’ or other important routes such as Avenida Rodrigues Alves. In short, we have very encouraging numbers which reflect the role of Porto Novo in the operation of traffic in the region. (Editor’s Note: After just over a year of operations, the concessionaire reported a reduction of 60% in the number of accidents involving vehicles within the perimeter of the port - in August 2012 there were 45 occurrences; 70 less than reported for the same period of the previous year). The important thing is reorganize public transportation in the region, rationalize the use of private cars as well as of municipal and inter-municipal bus lines that circulate in the region –whether as their final destination or in passing through. What’s important is that all this gets reassessed so as to bring a rational result in public transportation for the region and, consequently, for the city. In addition, we are implementing a number of complementary systems - which are also pioneer initiatives – regard to the placement and collection of garbage on the streets. It is a system of collection and disposal of garbage which is buried. All this activity within the scope of urban sanitation and housekeeping, replacement of lamps on public roads, maintenance of gardens and city squares; all of this is already underway with the teams of the Concessionária Porto Novo.

Grandes Construções – The region that these interventions have targeted has been degraded for a long time, far from the focus of action of the municipal government.  Does the Porto Maravilha project get its inspiration from the program for renewal of the Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires, Argentina - a formerly degraded region of 170 hectares which, after a process of revitalization, was transformed into one of the city's most up-to-date neighborhoods and the financial and gastronomic enter of Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires?

Ricardo Bueno – The model of initiative that City Hall of Rio de Janeiro always refers to as the benchmark for Porto Maravilha is the Spanish model used in the revitalization of the port region of Barcelona when the country hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1992. As regards Puerto Madero, we actually received visits of the project’s personnel, but the extent of the Porto Maravilha Project is much greater, both in physical area and in the amount of intervention and concept. Here we have interventions that are much more intense than what was done in the Argentinian project.

Grandes Construções – Considering the various actions, the set of interventions in Porto Maravilha as a whole, how much progress has been made in the execution of the works so far?

Ricardo Bueno – Today we have between 20% and 25% of physical advancement which has been achieved with the deployment of over 33 simultaneous work fronts, at seven work sites, spread out over the region of the project as a whole.

Grandes Construções – How many direct job positions did these works create?

Ricardo Bueno – Right now we’ve got 3,600 employees, among those directly and indirectly employed, with a potential to have additional hiring for the opening of new work fronts that are scheduled - for example, the work front at Avenida Rodrigues Alves and the demolition of the Perimetral Elevated Expressway.

Grandes Construções – When will the peak of work be reached and how many jobs will be created when it is?

Ricardo Bueno – This peak of activity will be reached in the second half of 2013 – when we expect to have around 4,300 employees. On many work fronts, at that time, we will run three work shifts. That will happen, for instance, at the tunnel work fronts and at a few points of the infrastructure.

Grandes Construções – This effort aims to enable the inauguration of the works when?

Ricardo Bueno – Actually there is no formal opening date. What we have is the gradual completion of services that, as they are concluded, are made available to the city. Even more because the level of intervention is very intense and we cannot afford to have a route that is ready but remains closed. Thus our target milestones are the dates scheduled for the major sporting events - the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The delivery of the first stretch of Avenida Binário do Porto, for example, is between June and July 2013, with the avenue ready. The Binário tunnel in turn will be ready in July 2014, and the ‘Museu do Amanhã’ (Museum of Tomorrow) should also be ready in the second half of 2014. And thus successively, with the last of these interventions to be delivered – the Avenida Express (Express Avenue), which is related to the removal of the ‘Elevado da Perimetral’ elevated expressway - scheduled for the first half of 2016 for the Olympics.

Grandes Construções – Of all the interventions that are scheduled, which are the most challenging in terms of engineering?

Ricardo Bueno – The group of tunnels of the new thoroughfare system poses the greatest challenge, both as regards technical and executional issues, and with regard to interference in the city’s day-to-day activities. There are a number of steps that must be taken for rerouting or detouring of traffic, to allow access to offices, to homes, because life in the city has to continue, people continue with their routines at the same time we perform our interventions. At Praça Maua, for example, we have the large work front of the ‘Via do Binário’, with intense activities that include the removal of materials. There, we try to concentrate the activities related to removal of materials at night when we find the city a little quieter, enabling the movement of large numbers of trucks. But we also seek to maintain peaceful relations throughout the day, so that we can complete all the steps established in the schedule.

Grandes Construções – Then, one great challenge is to have the least possible impact on the existing system of mobility until the woks have been concluded and the new system which is under construction is delivered to the population.

Ricardo Bueno – Precisely. And trying to give the city an alternative whenever we have to take away any urban equipment that is necessary to the day-to-day activities of the city’s population so that the city can conduct its routine activities normally.

Grandes Construções – What has the dialogue with associations of residents, business associations and other entities that represent the interests of the population been like?

Ricardo Bueno – We have taken to all the parties involved in the project, whether directly or indirectly, general information on the project, each of the steps, all the interventions, particularly issues related to blasting (detonations) which always cause a certain degree of  apprehension. We inform the community how blasting will be performed, at what times of the day, etc.. In general, we have had very good acceptance and understanding. When you show people what the project will be like when completed, acceptance is always very good.

Grandes Construções – In the scope of the project, what are the interventions foreseen for the thoroughfare system? How many kilometers of new thoroughfares are scheduled to be built?

Ricardo Bueno – We are talking about interventions in 70 kilometers of re-urbanized, remodeled routes including avenues and smaller streets, in addition to bike lanes, this entire port region which consists of five million square meters in area; the area of project intervention.

Grandes Construções – When you talk about the demolition of the Avenida da Perimetral elevated expressway, the first concern that comes to the public’s mind is the impacts that this will have on mobility in the city. What assurance does the city’s population have that this will not aggravate traffic conditions even further? Where will the vehicles that presently use this route go?

Ricardo Bueno – The system being deployed will provide greater capacity than the existing thoroughfare. To give you an idea, today the Perimetral Elevated Expressway can handle 7,600 vehicles per hour, and we're raising that to 10,500 vehicles/hour. Of course we'll have to fully rationalize the use of the thoroughfares; the bus lines, which are major generators of traffic in the region; the seaport activity itself since the port is operating. All this will be rearranged in a rational manner for the region, and ensure that the boom in realty construction that is being planned for the region is feasible. We need to equip the region with the infrastructure required to receive all this additional demand.

Grandes Construções – What are the main interventions in this thoroughfare system?

Ricardo Bueno – One intervention is the construction of the Avenida do Binário, which includes the construction of a tunnel 1,537 meters long that begins on Avenida 10 de Março and ends near the Moinho Fluminense, enabling the flow of traffic in the direction of Rios Santos Dumont Airport – Novo Rio Bus Terminal. Approximately 40% of the excavation of this tunnel is ready and progressing rapidly. Another important intervention is the construction of the Avenida Expressa which includes two parallel tunnels, each with three lanes. These tunnels will be 3,600 meters long, connecting the vicinity of Armazém 6 (Warehouse 6) in the Port Region and Praça XV in the center of the city. This combination of interventions will allow all the traffic passing through the region to reach Avenida Rodrigues Alves and exit near the ‘Terceiro Comando Aéreo Regional’ – 3rd COMAR (Third Regional Air Command) near Santos Dumont Airport. The Avenida do Binário will be assigned to handle the local flow of vehicles and the ‘Expressa’ to through traffic - vehicles which today use the Perimetral solely for passing through the region on their way to the airport or to the Aterro do Flamengo, and vice versa.

Grandes Construções – How are these tunnels being excavated? What methods of construction have been chosen?

Ricardo Bueno – We did extensive mapping of the underground of the entire seaport area in a very intensive campaign of soil surveys which allowed determine that gneiss was the type of rock prevalent in the region. With this information we adjust the trajectory of the tunnels to keep digging mainly in rock. Therefore, the tunnels have 80% to 85% of the volume of excavation in rock. This enables greater security and a reduction of ‘interfaces’ on the surface. That is, you perform fewer services on the surface and more services underground. And we have this condition both Binário route and in the Via Expressa. In addition to this high incidence of rock formations, we also have many stretches of sandy soil which is being treated with a series of injections of cement grout (jet grouting) or CCPH to consolidate the material and enable its excavation. In the stretches that are predominantly sand, we will use the ‘cut-and-cover’ method. In addition, there is a stretch in altered rock where we will adopt “meia-seção e rebaixo” excavation (half section and lowering excavation) ?? or possibly excavation with side galleries (side-drifts). In the executive project we expect to split the excavations into ‘compartments’ (‘compartimentação’) to be evaluated as work progresses.

Grandes Construções – Is there any initiative to reuse the material that is removed in excavating the tunnels?

Ricardo Bueno – Yes, all of the rock that is excavated in digging the tunnels is being processed on a plot of land nearby. The material is being crushed to be used in paving work. The material that is excavated from the region will remain in the region.

Grandes Construções – Do you have an assessment of the amount of material that is being removed and how many trucks are involved in this effort?

Ricardo Bueno – Considering rock material, we estimate that we are moving a total 200 thousand tons in the entire region. As regards the rest of the material, the volume is not precise since it depends on the quality of the material found throughout the work to be put to use in paving. If we find material that is not suitable for paving, we will have to change it.

Grandes Construções – What is the blast plan defined for this kind of excavation work in rock?

Ricardo Bueno – We are attempting to do two detonations daily, one in the morning and another at the end of the day. During the execution of points of access and the tunnel portal, the perception of detonations is much higher. At these times, we run a check of all buildings along the range of interference of such services and continue to monitor these properties throughout the progress of the excavations. But when we're more into the tunnel, interference in the environment is lower. We sound a siren to warn those in the vicinity that there will be a detonation, the times that detonations will take place are announced because there is the issue of noise. Even so, we are totally within the parameters of regulatory standards with regard to noise, movement and seismography. And we monitor all the variables related to the effects of these activities on the surface.

Grandes Construções – How are issues related to expropriations being handled?  Are there a large number of actions in this regard?

Ricardo Bueno – We have a very small number of expropriations. We are executing the tunnels with deep excavations and on the surface only a few properties are being expropriated for some of the road work. There are a few additional expropriations near the bus terminal where there will be the intersection of ‘Gasômetro Viaduct’ and the accesses to the Binário to enable the accommodation of this new road geometry that is being deployed. But, in general, we used the existing thoroughfares. Some of them had been forgotten, such as the ‘Via dos Trilhos’, which was used for the movement of trains that accessed the warehouses of the port. This path is being returned to the city as an avenue. There are also a few incidental expropriations to complement the area establishment of thoroughfare system.

Grandes Construções – A project of this size means the establishment of large work sites and the mobilization of large equipment right in the busy and active urban center. What was handling this challenge like?

Ricardo Bueno – Yes, we do in fact have very heavy equipment, especially  at the points of access to the tunneling work, such as cranes, gantries, jumbos, besides the excavators.  It is always a great challenge. We try to move this equipment outside the rush hours and adjust our needs to the needs of the main flows of traffic in the region. In general, the logistics that were set up have been very satisfactory and the resulting impacts have been very manageable. This has been one of our concerns since the beginning of the works.

Grandes Construções – What was hiring manpower to start the works like? Were there any difficulties in doing so?

Ricardo Bueno - We have here a great diversity of types of labor, of services, where the most specific is focused on the excavation of the tunnels; the demolitions personnel. We bring this personnel along with us from other contracts that we’ve had. They accompany the work fronts and we offer them accommodations. There is also other qualified staff; those who do the finishing, focused on buildings. These are the people who are at work on the ‘Museum of Tomorrow’, for example. They have another professional profile and accompany us from other types of works. And we complement these groups with manpower we hire locally. But the great majority is actually comprised of labor from Rio de Janeiro itself and the Baixada Fluminense which is the main provider of these human resources in Rio de Janeiro. In addition, we have invested heavily in training, qualification and increasing productivity of specific manpower through partnerships with Sesi and Senai. This will be a legacy for the region after completion of these works.