The year may have up to 13 auctions for highway concessions

Minister Renan Filho said that the federal government has the goal of holding 13 auctions for the concession of highways to the private sector this year. However, he already admits that the volume could be well below the estimated number. The estimate was released this Wednesday (10), at a press conference in which the minister presented an assessment of the Ministry of Transport’s actions in 2023, criticized the previous management and provided a schedule of actions for 2024.

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The 13 auction notices for highway concessions promise to generate R$122 billion in investments, considering capex (includes investment volume, generally at the beginning of the project, and maintenance cost) and operational investments that will be diluted in contracts of at least 30 years. “In 2023 our goal was to publish 5 notices and hold 4 auctions, we published 4 and held 3 auctions, two in Paraná (lots 1 and 2 of the new concession model) and one that was deserted in Minas Gerais”, assessed the minister.

Of the list of auctions that appear as a target for this year, only one has a notice published and scheduled on the São Paulo Stock Exchange, B3: the BR-040 in Minas Gerais, on a stretch that connects Belo Horizonte to Juiz de Fora. According to the list of the Ministry of Transport, the notice of the BR-364between Rio Verde (GO) and Rondonópolis (MT).

Next, an excerpt from the BR-040 between Belo Horizonte (MG) and Cristalina (GO). Routes of BRs 070, 174 and 364between Vilhena (RO) and Cuiabá (MT), are also part of the relationship, followed by the concession of BRs060 and 452, from Rio Verde to Goiânia and Itumbiara (GO). The program includes the BR-364from Porto Velho to Vilhena (RO).

Minas Gerais has 6 of the 13 auctions scheduled for the year.

The state of Minas Gerais returns to the B3 with a route from BR-381, from BH to Valadares, a lot that was scheduled for auction last December, but was removed from the agenda after no interest in the concession appeared. According to Renan Filho, the lot is back on the agenda with a change in the project to “increase its attractiveness and provide security to the private sector”.

“BR-381 is the biggest road engineering challenge in the country with its own geological difficulties.”

Minister of Transport, Renan Filho

This notice will be followed by the one that brings together the BRs 153 It is 262 between Goiás and Minas, BR-262 from Uberaba to Betim, and BR-040 from Juiz de Fora (MG) to Rio de Janeiro (RJ).

In the final stretch of the year, auctions are planned for lots 3 and 6 of the toll in Paraná. Closes the programmed cycle for route auctions BRs 020, 070, 080 and 090all in the state of Goiás.

Minister says he sees no problems with deserted auctions

The minister considered that he does not see any problems with, when bidding for several projects, there being some deserts. For him, the low competition indicates that the processes are balanced and are not extremely profitable for concessionaires, which would make tariffs more expensive for users.

When answering a question from the People’s Gazette on how to avoid a repeat of the low competition observed in lots 1 and 2 in Paraná and the deserted event in Minas Gerais at the end of the year, Renan Filho said that the government wants to grant assets with increased competition and that it is working in this direction, but that the country has “some complicated economic indicators” and concessionaires with limited investment capacity.

“We have a high interest rate, this creates difficulties for auctions, but 2023 was successful, we held two auctions for Paraná that raised R$20 billion in capex and the desert on BR-381 has a major engineering challenge Due to the geological risk inherent in the region, it needs to have a higher attractiveness”, he reinforced.

According to Renan Filho, these adjustments have been a defense before the Federal Audit Court (TCU), the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT), the logistics sector and the market. “In 2024 we want to have more competition. It is the government’s desire, but I cannot transform these investments into the most profitable on the planet because this will mean high tariffs for the citizen, there is a balance between the tariff that the citizen wants to pay and the investment. High competition means high profitability and high profitability needs someone to pay the bill”, he assessed.

The minister confirmed, for future auctions, “several adjustments”, such as reducing lot sizes and adapting accepted models to provide attractiveness and reasonable prices for the end user. “Reducing the size (of lots) helps smaller companies participate in the competition. Several measures were taken to increase competition in auctions,” he said, without going into further detail about what these adjustments would be.

“If there is a deserted auction, what happens? Nothing, the Dnit continues to manage the highway, the population continues to pay nothing and in the meantime the Dnit and ANTT analyze the area better. What is better: holding one auction a year and having competition or holding six, eight a year and having one or two deserts? Let’s see, let’s talk. We cannot be afraid of this, we need to have safe projects to take to the market. If the market says there are many projects, we will have to look for other alternatives to strengthen investment in Brazil”, he highlighted.

Government promises delivery of Florianópolis road contour in the 1st semester

The Minister of Transport stated that the road contour work in Greater Florianópolis should be completed in the first half of the year. The last schedule indicated completion of the structure in December 2023, but was postponed again.

Initially, this work was scheduled to be completed in 2012, on a section of the road network that promises to ease traffic congestion in the city. BR-101. The forecast is that around 23,000 vehicles will pass through the 50-kilometer road corridor that crosses the cities of Biguaçu, São José, Palhoça and Governador Celso Ramos, diverting traffic from BR-101 in the region that provides access to the capital of Santa Catarina. At the end of 2023, the concessionaire that manages the stretch, Arteris Litoral Sul, stated that 84.2% of the work was completed with 37 kilometers paved.

In 2008, the work was budgeted at R$400 million. However, according to the concessionaire, by the end of 2023 R$2.9 billion had already been invested and the entire structure will cost R$3.9 billion.