Concession of airports to happen in May
O Estado de S. Paulo
The Government will publish the rules for granting the concessions of the airports of Guarulhos, in São Paulo, and Brasília, in early May, followed by Campinas, until the end of the month and, finally, in late June or early July, Confins, in Belo Horizonte and Galeão, in Rio de Janeiro. The concessions will be only for the expansion works of the terminal, not including the exploration of the spaces already managed by the Brazilian Company of Airport Infrastructure (Infraero).
The decision to grant airport concessions to private companies to hasten the works and improve the service rendered to the population was taken by President Dilma Rousseff on Monday in a meeting with representatives of the sector, and it was announced yesterday by the Minister and Chief of Staff, Antonio Palocci, in a speech at the meeting of the Council for the Economic and Social Development (CDES).
The model had been claimed by the private initiative and the delay in the conclusion of the works was disturbing the President, who scheduled a new meeting with representatives of the sector to discuss the situation of the other airports for Friday. The total investments estimated by Infraero for those five airports is R$ 3.987 billion (US$ 2.5 billion). The proposed works include the construction of new boarding terminals and new runways, improvement, modernization and adaptation of the road system.
According to the model of concession, the winning company in the bidding performs the works required and, in return, commercially explores the airport, with the rental of stores. The model to be followed is that of São Gonçalo do Amarante, in Rio Grande do Norte, which has already been delivered for the construction by the private initiative and will be ready in two years. "Five airports will have initiatives in a short period of time, in the system of concession because we want to combine the urgency of the works with the need for public and private investment so we can give an answer to such issues in the shortest time possible", said Palocci, after explaining President Rousseff has already defined a series of measures that will be developed by the Secretariat of Civil Aviation, starting from the definition of the model of the rules for the concession of the services for all five terminals.
During the meeting of the CDES, it was up to the President to talk about the issue, classifying the saturation of the Brazilian airports as "good problems". After recognizing "we have to enlarge the airports", Ms. Rousseff pointed out the problem was caused by the "increase in the air travels that greatly exceeded the growth of the country". Ms. Rousseff also noted the Government is not looking at the airports just because of the FIFA Soccer World Cup® and the Summer Olympics. For her, it is necessary to meet "the growth of the huge demand of the Brazilian population for airline travelling".