The minister of Infrastructure, Tarcísio de Freitas, this Monday (20), an assessment of his three years in charge of the ministry. Most of the investments planned by Tarcisio until the end of the term of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), however, is linked to the concession of 50 projects during the electoral campaign next year.
These are projects that will require heavy investments, somewhere between R$ 150 billion and R$ 165 billion, more than half of what the government has managed to attract so far.
Among the main projects are the privatization of the port of Santos, the sale of 18 airports in the last round of Infraero — including Congonhas (SP) and Santos Dumont (RJ)— and the concession of more than 8,000 kilometers of highways.
In the railway sector, the government plans to renew the contracts of FCA and MRS and the concession of Ferrogrão, a project that is still the target of considerable criticism from the market. Altogether, these projects must require R$ 55 billion in private capital.
To compete in the elections for the government of São Paulo as candidate from Bolsonaro, Tarcísio will leave the ministry until April, giving up completing what the government calls the largest concessions program in the world, with planned investments of R$ 250 billion.
Of this total, the country has guaranteed R$ 89 billion so far, the promise of generating more than 500 thousand direct and indirect jobs.
If completed, most of the projects will only be auctioned next year, when investments of R$ 165 billion are planned for around 50 projects, such as the privatization of the port of Santos and the last round of airports.
In all, the forecast is for 1.2 million new jobs, an encouragement for Bolsonaro’s campaign, which saw economic indices deteriorate drastically due mainly to the pandemic caused by coronavirus hair.
According to Tarcísio, 108 public works were delivered this year alone, plus R$5.5 billion invested in duplicating more than 2,000 kilometers of highways, and 40 auctions were held, which attracted R$37.6 billion in contracted investments from the private initiative in railways, airports, highways, ports and waterways.
During the presentation of the balance sheet, the minister tried to keep the technical tone in his speech. However, the portfolio’s achievements gained a boastful tone in a video shown showing the works and investments.
“It is the ferry that now connects people in the Amazon, the duplication of highways that reduces accidents,” said the minister about the projects.
Tarcisio must leave the position until the beginning of April to start his campaign for the government of São Paulo.
In his team, there is a concern that, with his departure for political campaigns, relevant projects will lose strength.
The minister also stressed that the success of the concessions program “is not limited only to investments, but also to digitalization [dos processos] and the review of legal frameworks”.
He recalled the work carried out with Congress for the BR do Mar approval, creating a new landmark for inland navigation (cabotage), the Pró Trilhos, which implemented the authorization regime in railway concessions, and the renewal of the Brazilian Traffic Code and the legal framework for road passenger transport.
“Here we are talking about the future,” said Tarcisio. “We can imagine that we will have a more balanced transport matrix, going from the current 20% to more than 40% of the rail mode in the matrix [de transporte], we are going to have incentives for inland navigation (cabotage), a more competitive and sustainable system. We will have a reduction of up to 35% in the Brazil cost with the largest offer of transport. Brazil needs to be a leader in infrastructure in Latin America and we are going to get there.”
Defending the government, Tarcísio said that Brazil is the country with the most privatized services in both infrastructure and energy concessions. [com novos marcos e abertura de mercado do gás, por exemplo], sanitation.
“With everything going on now, I’m sure Brazil will become a major construction site.
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