New auctions for road concessions may be opened till June, 2015

The first auction will probably involve the Rio-Niterói Bridge, whose contract ends in May, 2015

Till the end of the first half of 2015, five new sections of federal roads will be opened for private concession. According to the plans of the federal government, this new set of concessions would be put into auction during last January, but this did not happen. The lack of confidence of private investors prevented the Program of Investments in Logistics (PIL)—announced two years ago by president Dilma Rousseff—to take off. According to the Ministry of Transports, the next set to be auctioned will include the new concession of the Rio-Niterói Bridge—managed by CCR—whose contract will end in May, 2015.

Other sections include 976 kilometers of BRs 163 and 230, between Sinop (MT) and Miritituba (PA); 703 kilometers of BRs 364 and 060 between Rondonópolis (MT) and Goiânia (GO); 439 kilometers of BR-364 between Jataí (GO) and the junction with BR-153 (MG); 493 kilometers of BRs 476,153 and 282 between Lapa (PR), Chapecó (SC) and the border of the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina.

Structural axes for exportations

The new set of road concessions makes clear the strategy of the government: to attend the logistic demands of the largest production points of agricultural commodities in the country. From the five sections selected, three are directly associated to the flow of grains from the Center-west region: BR-163 between Sinop (MT) and the port of Miritituba (PA) and two sections of the BR-364, between Rondonópolis (MT) and Goiânia and between Jataí (GO) and the Triângulo Mineiro. These are road sections that need duplication and paving, as identified in a recent survey carried out by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI). Only with paving and duplication of 976 km of the BR-163 between Sinop and the future port of Miritituba, the economy in transport may reach R$ 2.2 billion per year, from 2020 on.

Once finished the interventions for increasing the capacity of this road and of the two sections of the BR-163, local producers will have a new corridor to the northern ports of the country, reducing the pressure that blocks every year the ports of Santos (SP) and Paranaguá (PR), forming long queues to transfer the grains to the ships.

The same strategy that brings benefits when establishing large structural axes throughout the country for the production outflow puts in the agenda the concession of the BR-364. According to CNI, the 213-kilometer section connecting Rondonópolis to Alto Araguaia (MT) is currently the second more congested road of the whole Center-west region,. The daily traffic capacity of the road is 38.9 thousand tons, but in peak months of production flow, this volume reaches more than 78.9 thousand tons. In other words, the road is operating with 202 percent of its capacity.

The duplication of the BR-364 between Jataí and the connection with the BR-153 near Uberlândia also will improve the transport conditions of plantation owners of the southern Goiás, region that is among the largest producers of corn in the country.

In four of the five new corridors to be put in concession, the time of contract will be 30 years, with duplications scheduled to be totally concluded after the first five years of private management. The sole exception is the concession of the Rio-Niterói Bridge, which is also the only road with urban features. In this case, the concession period will be 20 years.

The new contract will demand that the concessionaire carries out works in access ways to the bridge, such as an elevated lane connecting the bridge with the Linha Vermelha, in Rio de Janeiro and the underpass in the Feliciano Sodré Avenue, in Niterói. Other interventions that may improve the traffic flow may be included in the contract.

Total of concessions reaches 11.2 thousand km

The Program of Concessions of Federal Roads was started by the Ministry of Transports in 1995. The first five concessions—in a total length of 854.5 km—started to operate in 1996.

Currently, the roads under concession correspond to a total of 11191.1 km, including concessions promoted by the Ministry of Transports and by state governments.

The National Agency of Earth Transports (ANTT)—created by the act nr. 10233, of June 5th, 2001—is the organ responsible by the management of 20 road concessions, in a total of 9487.7 km. which include five sections contracted by the Ministry of Transports between 1994 and 1997; one section contracted by the State Government of Rio Grande do Sul in 1998, with the Delegation of Agreement of the roads denounced later and being subrogated to the Federal Government in 2000; eight  sections corresponding to the second set – phases I (2008) and II (2009); one section referred to the third set – phase II (2013) and five sections that are part of the Program of Investments in Logistics (PIL) and belong to the third set – phase III (2013).