TCU points out low transparency in New PAC works totaling R$ 80 billion

An audit carried out by the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) pointed out that the Ministry of Transport selected road works for the New PAC that do not meet the strategy of the Land Transport Sector Plan (PSTT). According to information published this Monday (11) by the Court, the projects will cost around R$80 billion.

According to Minister Antônio Anastasia’s ruling, the sectoral plan was created by the government to identify the main demands and actions necessary for the development of the national transport system. In total, the New PAC will allocate R$185.8 billion in resources for road infrastructure.

“The largest portion of road projects sent to the New PAC have low impact or had not even been evaluated by ongoing planning, representing around R$80 billion between private and public projects”, pointed out the TCU ruling on the audit that the People’s Gazette had access (see in full). The court did not detail which works were highlighted in the analysis.

The TCU points out that 45% of the public resources allocated to the works, totaling R$36 billion, and another 35% of the planned private resources (R$54 billion) are classified as low impact in the sectoral plan or have not been evaluated. “It is negatively relevant that such significant amounts of public resources are allocated to projects with low impact or uncertain impact (not evaluated), increasing the high risk of wasting public resources”, he states.

The TCU audit also identified low transparency and a lack of social participation in the preparation of the project portfolio. The Ministry of Transport was contacted by People’s Gazette to comment on the result of the analysis, but did not comment until the closing of this report.

Government selected works that could be carried out by the private sector

Anastasia also pointed out that the Ministry of Transport suggested investing public resources in projects that would have a private vocation (projects with economic viability), and sent R$7.8 billion in resources from the General Budget of the Union (OGU). Of these, 85% are classified as high or medium pre-viability.

“In other words, projects that, according to planning, could be carried out with private capital are listed among those that will receive public resources”, noted the judge.

The inspection also found that there is no detail on the criteria that led to the choice of certain works and the method of financing the project, whether public or private partnership.

According to the government’s own report on investments in road infrastructure, R$6.8 billion in public resources will be allocated to concessions nationwide, in addition to R$2.5 billion for studies and projects of public works and concessions (see in full).

The private sector itself must allocate R$50.8 billion in investments in existing concessions and R$62 billion in new contracts.

“Disconnection” that generates “waste of resources”, says TCU

The TCU audit pointed out that there is a “disconnection” between the planning of priority works and the decision-making for the allocation of resources, representing an “inversion of the logic that would be expected for adequate planning”. “Instead of the plans guiding the choice of investments, decisions were made and, subsequently, projects that were not listed in the sectoral plans in progress will be incorporated into those plans,” states the analysis report.

The court also pointed out that the government did not compare the costs of the works – which, according to the audit, will reach R$80 billion – with the social benefits to choose the projects that will be paid for. The analysis also pointed out that the Ministries of Transport and Ports and Airports do not have filters to prevent projects with low viability or unfeasibility from being included in investment programs.

This situation, he states, prevents “bad investments, with low returns for society” from being identified in advance and discarded. Among these problems is the lack of connection between projects, contradicting the logic that created integrated transport planning.

“This fragmented approach increases the risks that interdependent projects, such as ports and railways, are not developed jointly and, also, that competing projects compete for the same cargo. Isolated investment decisions increase the risk of bottlenecks or duplication of efforts, resulting in the maintenance of high freight costs”, highlighted the minister.

The court gave a deadline of 180 days for the Transport and Ports and Airports ministries to present justification for the inclusion of each logistics investment in the New PAC.

Within the ruling, the MT stated that the Land Transport Sector Plan was not complete when it was accessed by the new management, and that it is carrying out a review of the documents. The Ports and Airports department reported that “around 80% of the works and projects proposed for the new PAC were already included in the sectoral plans as relevant and of high impact”, and that the sectoral plan “should not have a restrictive and binding nature” .