Operations at B3 will inject more than R$ 25 billion in Paraná in 2023

This year, Paraná is experiencing the peak of the privatization policy of the Ratinho Junior (PSD) government, with a constant presence in operations at B3, the São Paulo Stock Exchange, responsible for concession auctions and also for the sale of shares in Companhia Paranaense de Energia (Copel) to the financial market, on Thursday (10).

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According to a survey of operations at B3, the auctions promoted by the federal, state and municipal governments should result in an investment of around BRL 21.2 billion to the State of Paraná in 2023. In all, six auctions are planned, in the sectors of ports, sanitation, highways and public lighting, three of which have already taken place.

If you add the values ​​of follow-on of Copel, which aimed to make the company a corporation with dispersed capital without a controlling shareholder, the amount exceeds the house of BRL 25 billion. The forecast is that the sale of Copel shares will be totaled with a collection between BRL 4.5 billion and BRL 5.2 billionvalues ​​that must be confirmed this Monday (14) after the operations at B3.

In an interview with People’s Gazettethe superintendent of Bidding Processes at B3, Guilherme Peixoto, recalled that the Stock Exchange has provided services to the public sector for more than 30 years, in the sense of uniting private sector investors to good infrastructure projects. In his assessment, the choice of location as the environment for carrying out the deal gives credibility to operations at B3 due to the history of governance and transparency of the São Paulo Stock Exchange. “If there is a project with the need to unite the public and private sectors, it is natural that this process takes place at B3”, he summarizes.

Among the main operations in Paraná in 2023 are the road lot concessions with auctions held by the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT) in the August 25th and September 29th. The forecast is that the new toll model will inject approximately R$ 19 billion in investments in the more than 1,000 kilometers of highways granted in Paraná, with a forecast of creating around 200,000 jobs.

“The State of Paraná enters our portfolio, together with other states that saw fit to seek private support to carry out infrastructure projects that demand a large investment, an anticipation of resources that eventually, the state would have difficulty in carrying out. at the same speed. So, you have an ostensive investment in the first years and this concession ends up paying for itself over time”, evaluates Peixoto.

Lot 1, which involves stretches of the BR-277, BR-373, BR-376, BR-476, PR-418, PR-423 and PR-427 highways and has a length of 473 kilometers, will receive investments of BRL 7.9 billion over the next 30 years in expansion, duplication, structure and road safety. The public session of the auction will be on August 25th.

Lot 2, which will be auctioned on September 29, comprises federal highways BR-153, BR-277 and BR-369 and state highways PR-092, PR-151, PR-239, PR-407, PR -408, PR-411, PR-508, PR-804 and PR-855, and has a length of 605 kilometers. The investments reach BRL 10.7 billion over the 30 years of the concession.

“When the public entity chooses a private partner to carry out a certain activity, work or public service, the condition that is being put on the table is this anticipation of investments. The public choice for these modalities takes into account the availability of capital that is in the private sector and will be placed in the public service. After that, the project itself will remunerate this capital that was invested and anticipated”, explained the superintendent of Bidding Processes at B3.

As a comparison, in 2022, six auctions were carried out on the B3 for assets located in Paraná, with around R$ 3.9 billion in investments in the park sectors, with the auction of the Iguaçu National Park, ports, with the lease of the area PAR32, in the Port of Paranaguá, and public lighting, with PPPs in the municipalities of Curitiba and Toledo.

Institutional environment favors sharp curve of concessions

Peixoto recalls that the sector has registered a sharp curve since 2017, due to federal, state and municipal projects with a “favorable institutional environment”, also benefiting from the regulations of the Legal Framework for Basic Sanitation and the State-owned Law, promoting the infrastructure sector with concessions and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).

Among these operations is the auction of Companhia de Saneamento do Paraná (Sanepar), last month on the B3, which provided R$ 1.2 billion in investments in 16 municipalities in the Center and Coast of Paraná with the objective of accelerating works to reach the universalization of sanitation.

“The Sanitation Framework makes it absolutely necessary to look for private partners to universalize the service in the country. The public sector would not be able to universalize water and basic sanitation until 2033. Obviously, this also encourages this new infrastructure market. The State-owned Law also helps a lot for companies to conduct processes a little more quickly”, he analyzes.

Year still has concessions at the Port of Paranaguá and result of Detran yards

The Paraná Traffic Department (Detran-PR) courtyard concession project entered its last phase, at the beginning of this month of August, with the opening of the envelopes for the qualification of the bidding companies in the public session held at B3.

According to the State News Agency, the documentation presented will be analyzed, without a predetermined deadline. The disclosure of the winning companies of the two batches will be carried out after this stage.

The process started last year. The first phases involved the opening of economic proposals, together with the guarantee, and the selection of the three most advantageous proposals for each lot, based on the criterion of the highest linear percentage discount incident on the tariff structure. All phases were performed at B3. The application of the concession focuses on a savings of approximately BRL 7 million per year to the Government of Paraná.

Area concessions in the Port of Paranaguá are also contemplated by the turnaround of the State’s privatizations in 2023. In February, the PAR50 terminal auction generated investments of BRL 338 million. Scheduled for the 5th of October, the auction for the Port Terminal PAR09 should generate R$ 900 million in investments. With 24,000 square meters, the terminal is intended for handling solid vegetable bulk.

Among the municipalities in Paraná with operations on the B3 is the city of Ponta Grossa, which carried out the public lighting auction through PPP, last May, with planned investments of R$ 144 million.