President of TCU accepts renegotiation of the Pantanal Route – 10/21/2023 – Panel SA

The concessionaire MSVia, an arm of the CCR group, obtained approval from the president of the TCU (Federal Audit Court), Bruno Dantas, to renegotiate the contract for BR-163, known as the Rota do Pantanal, in Mato Grosso do Sul. The road is also known as the “Highway of Death” due to the high rate of accidents.

The measure opens space for the other problematic highways in the third phase of concessions from the federal government to request readjustment of contracts, the so-called consensual solution.

The order, signed by Dantas this Saturday (21), allows for a rearrangement under the terms of the contract between ANTT (National Land Transport Agency) and the Concessionária de Rodovia Sul-Matogrossense (MSVia), an arm of CCR.

The company took over in 2014, but, five years later, requested the amicable return of the contract to the agency, claiming there were recurring losses due to inconsistencies in the privatization modeling.

This and other highways in the third round of highway concessions face problems because demand projections, for example, were inflated in the concession modeling.

In 2020, the Partnership and Investment Program Council formalized the road on the re-tender list.

Initially, investments were planned along the 847 km length between the border of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul to the border of Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná. But they were frustrated.

Since 2020, ANTT had been planning to re-bid the highway and even envisaged the possibility of dividing it into two sections to attract interested parties.

However, the agency came to the conclusion that it would be more advantageous to renegotiate the contract with MSVia. There was a prospect that the new concessionaire would only take over the work in five years, according to ANTT. During this period, users would have no investment and would pay an even more expensive toll.

“The stoppage of investments, foreseen in the friendly return process, has generated discontent among users due to the lack of relevant works, the increase in tariffs and the delay in completing feasibility studies for a new tender, estimated to take place at the end of 2024” , writes Dantas in his dispatch.

“Thus, in the best case scenario, the works would start in 2027 and be completed in 2032, as they are scheduled from the third year onwards.”

The president of the TCU followed the recommendation of the Secretariat for External Control of Consensual Resolution and Conflict Prevention (SecexConsenso).

With Diego Felix

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