Planalto consortium wins Brazil road auction

Consorcio do Planalto beat out seven other consortia bidding for Brazil's BR-050/GO/MG highway, offering a toll rate of R$0.04534 per kilometre of highway – a 42.4 percent discount to the R$0.0787 ceiling price set in the bid announcement, Brazil’s Secretariat for Social Communication (SECOM) said in a statement on Thursday.

The companies comprising the Planalto consortium are: Senpar (leader), Construtora Estrutural, Construtora Kamilos, Ellenco Construções, Engenharia e Comércio Bandeirantes, Greca Distribuidora de Asfaltos, Maqterra Transportes e Terraplenagem, TCL Tecnologia and Construções e Vale do Rio Novo Engenharia e Construções.

The concession covers a total 436.6 kilometres (km) of highway. The concessionaire will be responsible for maintaining and operating the BR-050/GO/MG interstate as well as adding lanes, doubling capacity along 218.5 km of the highway – from Cristalina, a small city in the state of Goias, to the Minas Gerais-São Paulo state border.

“It is estimated the private sector will spend approximately R$650 million [€217.8 million; $294.4 million] on this expansion,” according to SECOM.

The other 218 km of the highway have already been expanded by the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT) with only 16 km awaiting completion.

The BR-050/GO/MG highway concession is the first under the Logistics Investment Programme (PIL), run by Brazil’s federal government.

Transport Minister César Borges called the auction a success, enabling the government to secure low rates as it had set out to do.

“I hope the [next auctions of the PIL] programme are as successful as this one,” he added.

Planalto’s rivals – Consórcio Triunfo Participações e Investimentos, Verdemar, Rodovia do Sertão, Queiroz Galvão, Invepar-Odebrecht-Transport, Comphanhia de Participações em Concessões, and Arteris – submitted bids with discounts ranging from 5.1 percent to 37.0 percent, according to SECOM.