10/23/2008 09h43
Federal Government announces US$ 636.4 million for 16 ports
Gazeta Mercantil - 10/23/2008
The schedule for the publication of the public notices of tenders for the execution of dredging and depth deepening works in 16 Brazilian ports starts becoming reality. The Special Secretariat of Ports (SEP) intends to announce, until the end of this month, the public notice for the port of Rio Grande, in the extreme south of Rio Grande do Sul and, in the sequence, the port of Santos. Until the middle of 2009 the intention is to have all public notices published and, by the end of 2010, having most of the works finished or close to completion, said the subsecretary of Planning and Development of the Special Secretariat of Ports (SEP) Fabrizio Pierdomênico to Gazeta Mercantil. Although they still depend on the bureaucratic procedures of the Public Bids Commission and analysis by the legal area, the probable order to be followed will be: Itaguaí (formerly Sepetiba, in Rio de Janeiro), Salvador and Aratu (BA), Paranaguá (PR), and Suape (PE) From the total of R$ 2.7 billion (US$ 1.2 billion) of the Program of Growth Acceleration (PAC) destined to the restructuring and modernization of the ports, RS$ 1.4 billion (US$ 636.4 million) are guaranteed for the dredging works included in the National Program of Dredging (PND), guarantees Pierdomênico. "From 2010 on the idea is to start a new round of public bids for deepening works in line with the market needs. What can no longer exist is the agents going to one side and the government not following them", said Pierdomênico. Questioned if the Federal Government intends to leave a new PAC after 2010, when the current one finishes, the subsecretary changes the subject: "I work with the expectation of 2010. I would not know what to say after that" and added: "But let it come". According to Pierdomênico, the public bids of PND foresee the participation of international companies for the execution of the works, which should cover any possible domestic difficulties - the lack of work has made the Brazilian companies look for options abroad. "What we are discussing at this moment is to see the possibility of including two ports in one public bid, like Salvador and Aratu, for example", reveals the subsecretaty, without giving any clues on the decision. "We are still waiting for the projects of some ports", he said, implying that not all of them are 100% pursuant to the parameters required by the current law.
