Government wants HST started in 2012 and ready by the Olympics
DCI
Despite having been postponed twice, the bidding for the works of the high speed train (HST) that will connect Campinas (SP), São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, will be ready for the 2016 Olympics, in Brazil. That is what affirms the managing director of the Terrestrial Transportation National Agency (ANTT). For him, despite the obstacles and the complexity of the project, the Brazilian railway industry, which already is the largest of all Latin America and produces powerful locomotives with more than 3,000 HPs (Horse-Power), will be able to fulfill the program, even though the local productive park of the sector lacks technology, which should come from foreign partnerships to fill the gap.
The Government wants the works of the project to start in the second half of 2012 at the latest, and with some luck they will be ready for the 2016 Olympics. But that would mean being ahead schedule since the contract period to the end the works is 2018. At the tip of the pencil it is possible to say that 70% of the works will be made on the basic infrastructure - rails on the ground, lighting, opening of tunnels -, an area in which our companies may operate. The rest will be brought by the transnational companies of the area entering the project, and later, the technology will be passed on to the companies and local governments. With that, the national railway sector will finally enter the 21st century and Brazil will be able to become one of the global players of the bullet train industry that currently generates billions of dollars every year.
Those issues are the main conclusions of the High Speed Train - HST Seminar, held yesterday at the headquarters of Federation of the Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp), in São Paulo. The 3rd meeting on the subject, sponsored by the entity, tries to give the project a start since so far it has not come off the paper and it is constantly attacked in the media and in the very corporate environment. The bidding for the concession of the business is scheduled for July 29.
"I defend Brazil does deserves to have a HST", says Bernardo Figueiredo, of the ANTT. He is not alone: representatives of the Government of São Paulo, of Rio de Janeiro and of entrepreneurs of both the States attending the event supported the undertaking. The Brazilian HST will cost, according to projections, nearly R$ 33 billion (US$ 20.6 billion) value the Government will finance R$ 20 billion (US$ 12.5 billion) at low interest rates (they will be credit lines of the BNDES - National Development Bank - that will feature the long-term interest rate of the bank, TJLP, as basis). Besides, the Government will invest R$ 3.4 billion (US$ 2.1 billion) as an investing partner, through the creation of the Brazilian High Speed Train Company (Etav).
The expected return on the investment will be 10.5% a year. There are five major international groups, holders of capital and expertise in bullet trains, which are, today, articulating with their Brazilian counterparts to form consortia to beat the others in the bidding. They will have to invest and run the risk, however: "It is normal that the businesses want some more financial support than what has already been offered, but it is not practicable for the Government to provide it", diplomatically declared Figueiredo.