Minister wants to use resources from the Amazon Fund for work on a highway that cuts through the forest – 08/16/2023 – Market

The Minister of Transport, Renan Filho, said this Wednesday (16) that his portfolio will present a model to pave the controversial BR-319 highway, which connects Manaus to the road system in the rest of the country, with resources from the Amazon Fund.

The work did not enter the New PAC (Growth Acceleration Program), but the feasibility and environmental sustainability studies will be analyzed by the technical group created under the program to assess these issues. She faces resistance from the government’s environmental area, for cutting part of the Amazon rainforest.

Renan Filho gave an interview to journalists to detail the New PAC projects for the transport area, which constitutes one of the nine investment axes.

The program was launched on Friday (11), at a major event at the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro. It is the great showcase bet of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) third term. The government foresees R$ 371 billion in investments with public resources until the end of Lula’s term, in 2026.

In total, also including investments by state-owned companies and private resources, R$ 1.4 trillion is expected in four years.

Questioned about the possibility of paving the BR-319 leaving the drawing board and being included in the program, Renan Filho said that he awaits the manifestation of the technical group that will evaluate the environmental viability of the project and added that the ministry will present the model, with resources of the Amazon Fund.

“We will present, when this group [técnico] once formed, an innovative model that aims at private management of the highway and use of resources from the Amazon Fund so that we have a management of this model highway for the planet, the most sustainable and greenest highway on the planet”, he said.

According to the minister, vehicles would need to stop when entering this highway, for greater control and to avoid environmental crimes. The site is “low flow” and is not a production corridor but a conservation one.

“But why does this concession have to rely on resources, for example, from the Amazon Fund? that has monitoring by cameras, by vehicles, even if it is not from the police, that is private to monitor the area, this would not be sustainable due to tolls”, he said.

The holder of the Transport portfolio also added that his team does not see an “insurmountable incongruity” in this work.

According to Renan Filho, the bullet train project to connect São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro did not enter the New PAC, as its budget is outside the reality of the program. However, he said that there will be a presentation by private investors soon. If there are signs that an investor is committed to paying for most of the works, the government could enter with a minority stake.

“The bullet train has a railway authorization, granted by ANTT [agência reguladora], and we will receive a presentation. This work is not included in the PAC because it was previously estimated at R$ 50 billion and there was no private interest to do it at that time and there are no public resources to carry out this work. It’s more or less stopping all the works we’ve talked about here to play just the bullet train. So we think that this would not make sense for this moment”, said the minister.

“However, if there is a private investor, such as this authorization, we understand that it is a very structuring work for the country and we can eventually support it. Let’s say that the work costs R$ 50 billion. $50 billion, but he can do it with R$40 billion. He would need R$10 billion from the federal government. If that time comes, I think we can discuss it”, he said.

Renan Filho disclosed that the New PAC will have investments of R$ 280 billion in highways and railways, between public and private resources.

In relation to road transport, there are 280 projects planned in total.

The minister also said that he intends to carry out, by the end of 2026, 50 new highway concession contracts. There would be 35 through new auctions and another 15 through “optimization” of existing contracts.

The objective, according to the minister, would be to optimize contracts that are in the process of being re-bid or that currently present more serious imbalances.

Renan Filho commented on the importance of approving the fiscal framework in the Chamber of Deputies to guarantee investment resources. For that, he asked for more effort from the government in the dialogue with the parliamentarians.

“The choice is to want the framework or the spending ceiling. Spending ceiling puts Brazil at Uruguay’s investment level […] The government needs to make an effort, dialogue, oil its base, but it is unlikely that the base will not understand that the best path is to approve the framework”.