Lula government plans new PAC in July with 2,000 works – 06/17/2023 – Market

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) works with the estimate of launching in July the so-called New PAC (Growth Acceleration Program) with about 2,000 works, between federal and state undertakings.

The last details are being finalized by the Civil House, which has been holding meetings with governors to refine priorities. The folder is currently working with the number of 356 projects indicated by the states.

The estimate is that the number of federal works, which will be most of the range of undertakings, will be around 1.7 thousand.

During his first live, last Tuesday (13), Lula announced that he would launch a “great program of public works” as of July 2, as one more step by the government after having invested the first months of his administration in the recreation of programs such as Bolsa Família and Minha Casa, Minha Vida.

“As we had a huge amount of public policies that had worked, we decided to recreate these public policies so that, from now on, from July 2nd, we can launch a great program of works, a great program for the development country, with infrastructure works in all areas,” said the president.

The government was looking for a new name for the program, which had its first edition in 2007. But Lula himself said last week that it could really be Novo PAC, as it is already a brand known to entrepreneurs.

Minister Rui Costa even announced that the New PAC would be launched in April, but the schedule was successively postponed. The Civil House argues that the longer period was due to different factors —among them, what they call the “planning deconstruction project” of federal and state structures in recent years.

In addition, as the last selection project was in 2016, states did not bother to prepare new projects and many of the old ones are now out of date.

The Civil House also points out that the new model of the program required a longer period of discussions. This is because the previous versions of the PAC dealt only with priority projects for each ministry, while the design about to be launched also makes room for listening to the needs of the states.

“We are assembling the two portfolios: I have a portfolio that is to meet the demand of the states and there is another portfolio that is of the logic of the ministry, of national priorities. We are trying to make them intersect”, he told the Sheet the Special Secretary for Articulation and Monitoring of the Civil House, Maurício Muniz Barretto de Carvalho.

“So this process, which is an innovation in relation to previous PACs, is causing us to have, I wouldn’t say a delay, but a process that takes longer for you to have an effective construction”, he added.

The launch of a program along the lines of the PAC had been a campaign promise by Lula. The petista claimed that he would receive three priority projects from each governor, an amount that ended up being made more flexible.

Minister Rui Costa and the Civil House team are defining the final list of projects presented by the states in meetings with the governors. There were 18 meetings so far, with agreements remaining with nine other heads of state executives.

Two weeks ago, the folder worked with 499 projects indicated by the states. However, in recent days, some of them ended up withdrawn by state governments and the number was reduced to the current 356.

The number of projects submitted varies greatly. There is a federation unit that presented only three proposals, another that took 60 for analysis.

The federal government also increased the number of program axes to seven, including one specifically for defense spending.

The reactivation of the Defense industry gained momentum right after the crisis with the military, after the coup acts of January 8th. It was a way found to guarantee the approximation of the Forces with the Lula government, through the implementation of priority projects of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

These actions were in charge of the vice president and minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), and the minister of Defense, José Múcio. Interlocutors at the Planalto Palace point out that, in addition to industrial and development issues, the inclusion of the Defense area in the New PAC also represents a “gesture” from the Lula government towards the military.

In addition to Defense, the New PAC has six other axes, which had already been announced by the government: transport, urban infrastructure, water for all, digital inclusion and connectivity, energy transition and security, and social infrastructure.

These axes are further divided into a total of 40 subaxes.

The Special Secretary for Articulation and Monitoring of the Civil House says that the dynamics of the New PAC will be a plan that presents some main guidelines and measures that facilitate or promote development, combined with a set of works for each of the areas encompassed.

Carvalho adds that it should be an infrastructure program adapted to the country’s current conditions, so there will be a concern with efficiency and energy transition and also with the “neo-industrialization” of the country.

The Civil House says that there is still no set day, but that the launch will be done in July. Despite already having an estimate of the amount of works, the portfolio team adds that the launch will be made after the approval by the Senate of the proposed new fiscal framework, to guarantee the fiscal limits of the new program.

THE AXES OF THE NEW PAC:

• Transport: Highways, Railways, Ports, Airports and Waterways
• Urban infrastructure: My home, my life; Housing Financing; Urbanization of Favelas; Urban mobility; Solid waste management; Disaster Prevention: Containment of Slopes; Disaster Prevention: Sustainable Urban Drainage
• Water for All: Water Supply, Sanitary Sewage, Water Infrastructure, Water for Those Who Need It Most, Revitalization of Hydrographic Basins and Integrated Sanitation
• Digital Inclusion and Connectivity: Connectivity of Schools and Health Units, Infovias, Universalization of 4G and Implementation of 5G, Digital TV, Digital TV 3.0, Postal Services and Delivery Logistics, Defense Satellite and Communications
• Transition and Energy Security: Power Generation, Light for All, Transmission, Energy Efficiency, Oil and Gas, Low Carbon Fuels, Transition Production Chains, Geology and Mining and Solar Energy
• Social Infrastructure: Education, Health, Culture, Sport and Justice and Public Safety
• Defense