10/20/2008 14h15
São Paulo has 21 projects involving the private sector
Valor Econômico - 10/20/2008
São Paulo's government is looking for alternatives to keep investments involving the private sector - whether by concessions or by Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) - safe from the financial crisis. In total, São Paulo has a portfolio of 21 projects - two of which have already been object of public hearings, 13 have their preliminary proposals approved, and six of them are still in their initial stages of evaluation. The first test of the State of São Paulo will be the public auction of five lots of highways (Dom Pedro I, Ayrton Senna, Carvalho Pinto, Marechal Rondon, and Raposo Tavares), confirmed for October, 29th. To facilitate private participation in a period of credit shortage, the government brought Nossa Caixa bank into action, so it will, for the first time in history, grant credit for the payment of the concession - amount paid to the government for the concession rights. São Paulo State Secretary of Transports Mauro Arce, however, denies that Nossa Caixa's orientation to releasing more credit is a response to the crisis. Maybe more complicated is a solution for the concession of the
Expresso Aeroporto (Airport Express), an investment of R$ 1.7 billion (US$ 772.7 million), whose public notice is one month late. After the public hearing, in August, the expectation was that the public notice should be published until the end of September. Now the State Secretariat of Metropolitan Transportation is talking about presenting the public notice in November or December. Another project that was expected for the end of the year and was postponed is the concession of the Eastern branch of the
Rodoanel (Road Ring). The State Secretariat of Transports has even announced the presentation of the project for the end of this year, but the schedule now indicates that the acquisition of the first environmental license should occur in October of next year. Some projects were even detailed but, this far, they have not had an expected date for the publication of the public notice. Among those are the PPPs of digital identification, which is the implementation of a system that would allow the identification of the citizens' Identity Cards through their fingerprints, the
Expresso Bandeirantes' (Bandeirantes Express'), which would connected the center of the capital to the city of Mauá, the one of the "production outsourcing" of the second plant of the
Fundação para o Remédio Popular -
Furp (Popular Medicine Foundation), a São Paulo state-owned company, and the one of the penitentiaries. For the end of the year, the State Secretariat of Economy and Planning has announced the beginning of the period of public consultation for the PPP of the modernization of the Line 8 - Diamond, of the
Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (São Paulo Company of Metropolitan Trains - CTPM), which connects the Julio Prestes station, in the center of the capital, to the city of Itapevi. The project foresees the renovation of 12 trains, the acquisition of 36 new ones, and the maintenance of the trains for 30 years. The amount of investments has not been published yet. The criterion of the public tender will be the smallest amount to be paid by CPTM, and part of this payment will be made according to the concessionaire's performance.
