Panel SA: Auction in Alagoas shows interest in basic sanitation projects

The new auction for the concession of basic sanitation services in Alagoas held this Monday (13) showed that investors are still keen to bet on the sector.

The two blocks that were in dispute, which bring together 61 municipalities from different socioeconomic conditions, attracted competitors who had not participated in other auctions held after the creation of the new legal framework for the sector, and the companies that won paid high for the concessions.

The state government collected R$1.6 billion, an amount close to the R$2 billion paid for the concession in the metropolitan region of the capital, Maceió, in September. “This shows the determination of the companies”, says Percy Soares Neto, executive director of Abcon, an association that represents private concessionaires.

The result suggests that it is possible to attract the interest of investors even in economically fragile regions, says the executive. Critics of the new legal framework for basic sanitation, approved by Congress last year, said that only areas of greater economic power would be served.

For comparison purposes, the concession fee paid at the auction for the two blocks of blocks in Alagoas, which have 1.3 million inhabitants, is equivalent to R$ 1,230 per person to be served. At the auction in the metropolitan region of Maceió, the value of the grant per person was R$ 1,300.

In Rio de Janeiro, which granted three blocks in April this year to bring basic sanitation to 11 million people, the investment was around R$ 2,000 per inhabitant.

For Soares, the fluid relationship between the state government and the municipalities made a difference in Alagoas, from designing the project to the distribution of grants, which tends to facilitate the operation of companies.

With Ricardo Balthazar (interim), Andressa Motter e Ana Paula Branco. ​