Government and private sector will invest US$ 2 billion in Santos
Valor Econômico 02/17/2009
The port of Santos received guarantees that there will be the continuation of investments between this year and the next, without any interruptions, as a bet in the growth of both the economy and the foreign trade, with the amount corresponding to R$ 4.56 billion (US$ 2 billion). This amount will be distributed between R$ 861 million (US$ 374.4 million) of the Federal Government and R$ 3.7 billion (US$ 1.6 billion) of companies of the private sector. The balance of the investments package made by the Special Secretariat of Ports (SEP) for current works and for those that are going to start surprised even Ministry Pedro Brito, for whom "in this moment of crisis (the evaluation) is good for the port, with the investments continuing without any retraction". In an interview to Valor, the Ministry estimated at 5,200 the number of direct jobs to be created by all the 17 infrastructure works in the port of São Paulo, the biggest one in the country, with the parcel of the Federal Government computed in the account of the Program of Continued Acceleration (PCA). With these proceeds, Santos may leap from the current 80.1 million tons of handled cargo to 100 million tons, in two years, even if some of the works are not concluded until 2010, according to the Ministry. Other applications in technology systems aimed to the ports, like the safety area, will gain special support in this period. As an example, there is a system of electronic monitoring since the Santos bank to the pier, the VPS, which will demand R$ 9 million (US$ 3.9 million). In order to conclude the project of the ISPS Code, focused safety, more R$ 46 million (US$ 20 million) is foreseen. From the public investments, two new works has gained priority: the support of the structure of seven kilometers of pier and an underground passage between warehouses 1 and 2, in Valongo, to avoid crosses of rail and road vehicles. The side roads of the right side, with 100 million (US$ 43.5 million), and the one of the left, R$ 70 million (US$ 30.4 million), are included in the solutions of faster displacement in the areas that surround the port. According to Pedro Brito, until the end of March the auction for the deepening dredging will be concluded, whose budgeted cost is R$ 186 million (US$ 80.9 million). Another amount, of R$ 32 million (US$ 13.9 million), will be destined to the destruction of two stones that block the navigation in the estuary. And there is another R$ 7.2 million (US$ 3.1 million) for the removal of the wreckage of Greek Ship Ais George, kept semi-underwater since the decade of 1970.