São Sebastião starts expansion plan
Valor Econômico - 05/12/2008
The works for enlargement and revitalization of the areas surrounding the port of São Sebastião, on the coast of the State of São Paulo, have received an impulse with the execution of a memorandum of intent between Docas and the Company of Development of São Paulo (CPD), connected to entrepreneurs and to the government of the State. The document, which focuses on the acquisition of a preliminary permit from the environmental authorities, elaboration of functional and operating plans of the port, including road and duct accesses and technical-economic-legal modeling of the competitive bids for the terminals, involves investments of nearly R$ 2.2 billion (US$ 1.33 billion), foreseen in the Port-to-City Integrated Plan (Plano Integrado Porto-Cidade). From the expected investment, R$ 1.5 billion (US$ 909.1 million) concern works in the port. The other R$ 700 million (US$ 424.2 million) are intended for works in the road contour at the boundaries of the terminals. Currently, the whole traffic of vehicles intended for the port goes through the downtown area of the city. The gradual goal of the port is the construction of four berths for containers, with up to 16 meters of depth and a retro area of 500 thousand square meters; an area for assistance of the offshore activities, 90 thousand square meters in the form of docks; four piers for liquid bulk, with 22 meters of depth, two of which will be intended for public use and the two other for Petrobrás. An extension of 1,200 m with four births will be destined to operations with solid bulks, vehicles, and passengers. According to Bussinger, the port will have capacity for 200 thousand cubic meters of liquid bulks, which will be connected by an alcohol pipeline with the plateau, in order to provide transport to three types of ethanol. The structure to receive this product will be located in the municipality of Vale do Paraíba, which makes the connection between the metropolitan regions of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro For the port-to-city integration, the project includes the road of the area surrounding the wharf, the construction of marinas, a new site for the crossing that connects São Sebastião to Ilha Bela, the sea museum, and a large leisure complex. The private initiative will be responsible for the entire investment of the port, and the public sector will be responsible for access roads to the port.