09/05/2008 15h16
Government will award airports to the private initiative
Valor Econômico - 09/05/2008
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva decided to award the private initiative, through a concession arrangement, the management of the country's main airports. The measure will begin with Galeão (Antonio Carlos Jobim) airport and with Viracopos airport, in Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and Campinas (SP), respectively. The country's largest airport - Cumbica, in Guarulhos (SP), will also be subject to a concession, as verified by Valor. The President has been personally dealing with the matter with some governors. São Paulo Governor José Serra (PSDB) was the first one to suggest the adoption of the concession model. Yesterday, Lula called Rio de Janeiro Governor Sérgio Cabral (PMDB) to announce the decision. The concession is a kind of privatization, although, in this case, the airports continue belonging to the Federal Government, differently from what happened to the denationalization of the companies of fixed landline and cellular telephone services, for example. The model is being prepared by the National Bank of Economic and Social Development (BNDES), which even analyzed the possibility of Infraero's privatization. President Lula's decision represents a big turn in the discussions about the restructuring of the infrastructure of the Brazilian airports. Since last year, the government had been studying the possibility of opening the capital of Infraero, the state company that manages the 67 federal airports. The objective was to raise funds to invest in the renovation and expansion of the busiest airports. The trend is that, in the new model, the government gives Infraero the responsibility of managing the future concession agreements. The government has 88.8% of Infraero's capital. The remaining shares belong to the National Fund of Development (FND), managed by BNDES. The state company manages 67 airports, 80 units of navigation support and 32 cargo logistic terminals. Only ten, among the 67 federal airports - among which Congonhas (SP), Galeão (RJ), Cumbica (SP), Viracopos (SP) and Santos Dumont (RJ) - are profitable. In the new system, the state company would receive the proceeds of the concession auctions, in addition to an annual fee for the use of these airports. With the money, it would manage the non-profitable airports that would continue out of privatization.
