Rumo Logística, the largest railway concessionaire in the country, announced this Thursday (3) that it will begin construction work on a 730-kilometer railroad in Mato Grosso, with an investment that could reach R$ 15 billion.
The railway, which when completed, will pass through 16 municipalities in the state, will have 22 bridges, 21 viaducts, 2 kilometers of tunnels and 11.5 kilometers of bridges. It will consume 1.4 million sleepers and 108 thousand tons of rails.
The first phase, which will begin in 2022 and should be completed in three years, will link Rondonópolis to Campo Verde and will cover 211 kilometers. In the stretch, the investment will be between R$ 4 billion and R$ 4.5 billion.
There will be two stretches, both from Rondonópolis, connecting Cuiabá and Lucas do Rio Verde.
The railroad is the result of a partnership with the government of Mato Grosso, which defined its own legislation for the work to be carried out by the private sector. It is considered the first state railroad in the country and will have 100% investment made by Rumo.
For the concessionaire, the work will stimulate the installation of new industries, increase the potential for the outflow of agro-mato-grossense demand, reduce logistics costs for cargo transport and allow diversification of cargo, in addition to generating jobs.
“It’s the opportunity to take all this development to the interior of Brazil. You decentralize, as it is in developed countries, [você leva] development and job creation. We are talking about more than 200 thousand jobs, 100 thousand direct jobs and 100 thousand indirect jobs, just in this first moment. So, being able to generate these jobs in the countryside is very good, because Brazilian agribusiness today employs more than 20 million people”, said João Alberto Abreu, president of Rumo.
The main grain exporter in the country, Mato Grosso currently has only 300 kilometers of railroads, which means that it will more than triple the current rail length when the work is fully completed, which Abreu predicts for 2030.
As an effect of comparison with other modes of transport, two trains that leave Rondonópolis for the port of Santos transport 10 thousand tons, distributed in 120 wagons and three locomotives, the equivalent of 700 trucks.
“It is a project whose scale will truly transform the company. The state of Mato Grosso is now responsible for 40% of the country’s grain exports. This share of national exports will naturally increase, as there is still an enormous potential for growth .”
The first phase of Rumo’s extension in Mato Grosso is considered by the company as the most difficult in terms of works, due to factors such as geographic complexity.
The company has the prior environmental license for 100% of the project, according to Abreu, and this Thursday it signed an agreement with the MPF (Federal Public Ministry), the government of Mato Grosso, the Public Defender’s Office and indigenous communities to allow the works, with hearings requested by the MPF being carried out in parallel.
“In no way do we avoid having these discussions to hear them, understand if there is any additional need in the process, but the licensing continues naturally.”
Rumo is the largest railroad operator in the country, with 14,000 kilometers of tracks distributed in nine states (Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Goiás and Tocantins) , 12 transshipment terminals and six port terminals. It has 1,400 locomotives and 35,000 wagons.
The governor of Mato Grosso, Mauro Mendes (União Brasil), re-elected in the first round, said that the state created the legal permissions so that Rumo could build the railroad in Mato Grosso and that it will allow the agro to grow even more.
“This improvement in logistics with the arrival of the railroad will create more competitiveness between the three exits that Mato Grosso has, through the Port of Santos, navigation along the Madeira River and navigation along the river to Miritituba, descending to take the ports of the North region. Having competitiveness between modes, the cost of freight tends to decrease and this will be good because it will leave more money in the hands of those who produce, making this sector more competitive,” he said.
The ceremony that will mark the beginning of the works will take place on Monday (7), at the Rondonópolis railroad terminal.
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