The government publishes a new Tamoios PPP edict

The purpose is to incorporate to the original text the contributions offered by the interested companies in taking part in the bit, which will involve R$ 2.13 billion in investments.

Agência de Transporte do Estado de São Paulo (Artesp) republished, on May 5th, the international bid edict, to grant Tamoios Highway to private enterprise, for a 30 year period of time, within the Parceria Público-Privada (PPP) model, in the sponsored grant model, in the sponsored grant modality. With the new edict, with new information, the date to deliver the envelopes with the accreditation, proposal guarantee, habilitation documents, execution methodology, commercial proposal and business plan were also postponed to June 18th.

During the period of time when the first edict became public – from march 28th thru May 5th – contributions were received from those companies with interest in taking part in the bid. Such contributions were evaluates and taken into consideration by Artesp as positive ones. The agency decided to incorporate the pertinent contributions to the bid material. Thus, the decision was taken to change the schedule so that all the interested parties could have enough time to be aware of what was incorporated in order to be able to compete on equal terms.

The new edict makes available the documents and environmental permits as well as detailed information about the highway operational issues, such as ascent and descent of the mountain. The technical visits were also reopened as of May 20th. The interested persons who have already taken part of a technical visit do not need to visit it again. The bid is open to Brazilian and foreign companies, investment funds and supplementary pension – singly or in consortium.

The concession involves the doubling the stretch of the mountain ridge of Serra da Rodovia SP 099 (between km 60.480and km 82), as well as the responsibility for the operation, maintenance and conservation services of Rodovia SP 099, in the stretch between km 22.5 and km 83.4, as well as the road contours of Caraguatatuba and São Sebastião. The bid is open to Brazilian and foreign companies, investment funds and supplementary pension – singly or in consortium.

The bidding judgment criteria will favor the lower value, considering the maximum value of R$ 156,864,903.03. The investments, in the mountain stretch duplication alone, add about R$ 2.9 billion. Another R$ 1 billion will be applied along the 30 year grant contract.

The “New Tamoios” grant forecasts the implementation of three toll plazas, out of which two of them on the plain stretch (km 15.7 and km 56.6) and one on  Caraguatatuba round boundary. The toll per kilometer, in the single lane road, is stipulated in R$ 0.077 (seven cents per kilometer). The toll in the double lane stretch of road we established in R$ 0.108 (ten cents per kilometer).

The toll collection will begin, according to Artesp, after the second year of the contract, conditioned to the conclusion of services such as replacement of faulty safety equipment; elimination of holes; cleaning, unplugging drains and culverts; paving correction, plates recovery, signs, implementation of emergency stations; improvements in special works of art; installation of three service bases for the User’s Service Rendering (provisional), implementation of the road Operational Control Center; lighting in the mountain stretch between km 64 and km 80 and the shoulder widening from 10.2 m to 14 m on 7 points of the road, besides other improvements. The liberation of toll collection is also conditioned to the conclusion of at least 6% of the duplication job of the mountain stretch.

Besides the road expansion, the grant foresees some operational modernizations to improve the safety and to make short travels by Tamoios. The highway will be fully monitored by 209 Closed Circuit TV cameras (CFTV), to streamline medical services and actions to improve the traffic whenever they are needed. The drivers will have a radio station fully dedicated to transmit bulletins with information about the operational conditions and the road traffic – an innovation in the roads network in São Paulo. Furthermore, call boxes will be installed at each kilometer of the road so that the users can communicate to the Operational Control Center teams in case of eventualities.

The concessionary will have to forecast the fleet of winch trucks, ambulance and mechanical service to meet the stringent standards that are stipulated on the edict. Another one of the new criteria in the edict is the immediate transmission of all information from the Operational Control Center to Artesp Information Control Center.

The great concern of the State Government about the implementation of Nova Tamoios Serra is with the preservation of Serra do Mar. Thus, instead of duplicating the present line of the road, with the implementation of one lane by the side of the existing one, a new road will be build, to be used just for the ascent of the mountain (from Caraguatatuba to São Sebastião) with tunnels, bridges and viaducts.

Out of the 21.58 total kilometers of Nova Tamoios Serra line, more than half, or 12.6 km, will be built in tunnels and 2.6 in bridges and viaducts. 11 special works of art and five underground passages will be built, with 3.675 km.

In order to guarantee the users’ safety, four auxiliary tunnels will be built, adding up 11.92 km, which will serve as escape route in emergency situations within the underground passages in operation. In the future, these tunnels could be adapted for the construction of new lanes to meet future demands.

The constructive methods that are suggested in the project also aim at the preservation of Serra do Mar mountain ridge. An example is the use of cranes, to be installed in strategic points, which help the work fronts of tunnels land special works of art. The utilization of those pieces of equipment reduces the vegetation suppression, as it permits the use of smaller service roads, enabling more versatility to the jobs.

The Nova Tamoios Serra project also forecasts adequacies on the old road line, which will be used by those vehicles going to the coast. This way the ascent and descent traffic will be segregated, guaranteeing safety to the road users. The forecast investment for the new road building is R$ 2.13 billion. The interventions should be executed in 48 months.