Brazil to award US$1.29bn highway concession with new rules

Through its highway concession plan, Brazil's federal government is planning to launch a 4.5bn-real (US$1.29bn) tender this month to concession 460km of federal highways running through the states of Santa Catarina and Paraná.

Known as Rodovia do Frango, or the "chicken highway" due to the frozen chicken and meat exports from the region, the network consists of highways BR-476, 153, 282 and 480.

A tender is scheduled to be launched on August 31, local paper O Estado de S Paulo reported.

The project falls under phase 2 of the country's logistics investment program PIL, which has a total budget of 198bn reais.

NEW TENDER RULES

The flat areas – some 80% of the stretches – must be widened within five years, but the contractors will have seven years to widen the highway segments in mountainous zones, according to the report.

Meanwhile, to attract more competitors, the finance ministry has sent a proposal to the transport and planning ministries that involves eliminating the need to widen at least 10% of the stretches before tolls can be charged.

This and other measures aimed at attracting more bidders are being considered, according to the finance ministry's economic monitoring secretary Paulo Corrêa.

Due to Brazil's 'Car Wash' corruption probe, incentives are needed to attract more bidders, particularly smaller companies, the report said.

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