Transport Minister Renan Filho believes that in order to increase the number of road concessions, the public administration cannot repeat the strategic mistakes made in recent decades regarding the development of projects. “We cannot protect profits or impose capital expenditures (the investment value specified in the contracts),” the minister said during the Highway Biennale, an event organized by concessionaires.
The reason for the profit protection, according to the minister, is that previous administrations were keen to impose low profits, which would alienate the private sector. He explained: “We cannot tell a company how much it can earn, otherwise it will make a rational decision not to participate in the auction. That is why, historically, we have had auctions with low competition.” Broadcasting In an interview after speaking at the Biennale.
“To hold more auctions, we need to provide greater clarity to the processes, update the contracts and correct the irregularities in previous contracts. We had concessionaires who never reported profits to shareholders,” said Renan Filho.
He explained that the protection to be avoided is exclusively that imposed during the competition phase, and does not extend to financial penalties related to contract monitoring, as is the case with reducing transit fees in the event that companies do not comply with their obligations.
New Auctions
The minister referred to the goal of 35 new auctions by 2026 and the search for renegotiation of concession contracts that suffer from “severe imbalance” – until then there was talk of 14 possible renegotiations, today he said there are 15 possible renegotiations. “If we achieve this, we are talking about an investment of about R$400 billion,” estimates Renan Filho.
“The changes we have made in the Phase 5 update, as well as improving these contracts and bringing them into line with Phase 5 standards, will be essential to transforming the national road infrastructure,” the minister said.
For the next planned auction, BR-381, scheduled for August 29, Renan Filho said that unlike recent attempts, which did not attract interested parties, there will be competition. He said the participation of different companies is important to ensure the long-term health of concessionaires.
