09/08/2008 11h16
New São Paulo State airport will also be private
O Estado de S. Paulo - 09/08/2008
Beside Galeão, in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), and Viracopos, in Campinas (SP), the new airport of São Paulo will be given to the private initiative, too. Minister of Defense Nelson Jobin informed yesterday that he is studying the private concession for the construction of the new airport. The estimated cost is R$ 5 billion (US$ 3.1 billion). Neither the place nor the date for the beginning of the works has been chosen yet. According to Jobin, Galeão and Viracopos will be under private administration already in 2009. "The President determined studies for the concession of the Galeão and Viracopos airports and the study of the concession for the construction of the fourth airport of São Paulo. We expect that next year we will be able to release the public notice (for Galeão and Viracopos) and have this matter solved. The most important thing is the public notice." "It is not a common public notice. It foresees a series of situations for the rendering of services. We will then be able to measure Infraero vis-a-vis a private operation, too. We will have the notion of the necessary adjustments", he said. Jobim affirmed that the government's decision to privatize airports does not go against the opening of the capital of Infraero, the state-owned company that manages the Brazilian airports. Up until now, both Jobim as Infraero's president, Sérgio Gaudenzi, defended the capital opening instead of the privatization. Gaudenzi's main argument is that only 10 of the Infraero's 67 airports are profitable and would be the only ones to interest to the private initiative. The choice of Galeão and Viracopos was made because they are "key-airports", informed Jobim. In the case of the Galeão airport, the fact that the city is running to host the Summer Olympic Games of 2016 was a heavy factor. "We assure a better grade regarding airport for Rio de Janeiro", he affirmed. The Viracopos airport, he explains, goes to the private hands because of the urgency of its expansion to ease traffic in Congonhas (SP) and Cumbica, in Guarulhos (SP). About the new São Paulo airport, the minister does not risk saying time limits for the beginning of the works nor for the beginning of its operations. The study for the choice of a location should cost R$ 40 million (US$ 24.5 million) and the purchase and preparation of the land, R$ 2 billion (US$ 1.23 billion). The coordination of the studies for the private concession of the three airports will be in charge of the president of BNDES, Luciano Coutinho.
