Government is not interested in being part of the Rio-SP bullet train project, says state director

[ad_1]

Jorge Bastos, from Infra SA, stated that the work, estimated at BRL 50 billion, is not a ‘priority’. A private company was authorized to build the line, but the idea depends on investment to get off the ground. The new CEO of state-owned company Infra SA, Jorge Bastos, said this Wednesday (1st) that the government has “no” interest in becoming a partner in the bullet train project between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Infra SA is the state company responsible for building and managing public railways in the country, among other functions. Last month, the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT) authorized the company TAV Brasil to build and operate a high-speed train project between Rio and São Paulo. The purpose would be to transport passengers. However, the company still needs to seek investors to get the project off the ground. The cost is estimated at R$ 50 billion. According to Bastos, there is “no” chance of the government entering as a partner in the project. “This authorization is completely private, it has nothing to do with the government,” he said. “We have no interest in participating in this project. It is not one of our priorities. It is a totally private authorization and they are going to play”, he added. Bullet train project will connect Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo Dilma Government In 2012, the Dilma Rousseff government tried to get a project very similar to TAV Brasil off the ground (remember in the video above). The idea was to have a high-speed train that would transport passengers between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. It would be a partnership between the State and national and international investors. A state-owned company was even created – EPL – with the aim of trying to put the project on its feet. There was no interest from investors, due to the cost of the project, demand and engineering risk. EPL ended up being merged during the end of the Bolsonaro government with Valec, the state-owned company responsible for building railroads. The two gave rise to Infra SA Bastos assessed that the TAV Brasil bullet train project could be interesting for the country, but as long as it proves to be economically viable and is done with private resources.

[ad_2]

Source link