Via Brasil wins Mato Grosso highway concessions

A consortium formed by six companies, Consórcio Via Brasil, won an auction for a 30-year concession to operate 300km of highways in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.

The consortium will operate 111.9km of the MT-100 highway in Alto Araguaia and 188.2km of the MT-320 highway in Alta Floresta. It paid 10mn reais (US$3.08mn) in grants for MT-100 highway and 6.16mn reais for MT-320 highway.

Via Brasil is comprised of local infrastructure firms Conasa Infraestutura, Zetta Infraestrutura e Participações, Construtora Rocha Cavalcante, Fremix Pavimentação e Construção, FBS Construção Civil e Pavimentaçã, and CLD-Construtora Laços Detetores e Eletrônico.

The highways have low traffic volume, consisting mainly of trucks that transport agriculture commodities.

The auction attracted little interest from the private sector, with Planova Planejamento e Construções being the only other group participating.

Approximately 867mn reais will be invested in new works and 951mn in road maintenance. The winner will be eligible to finance up to 50% of investments via state-run development bank BNDES, while the rest should come from the winner and the issue of local bonds, the state government said.