1/30/2020
The Consórcio Infraestrutura Brasil won an auction to operate for 30 years a highway in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo after a bid of 1.1 billion reais ($270.42 million).
The so-called Pipa is the largest public road concession ever put up for auction in Brazil. The contract covers a total of 1,273 kilometers of highways for modernization and expansion between the city of Piracicaba (São Paulo) and the minicipality of Panorama (Mato Grosso do Sul).
Among the planned interventions are 600 kilometers of duplication and new tracks (the urban contours). There will also be additional lanes and marginal roads, shoulders, new access and return roads, pavement recovery, walkways, and bike paths. It is expected that more than six thousand direct and indirect jobs will be generated in the first year of the contract, and in the following year, the forecast is for this number to rise to seven thousand.
The notice foresees innovations from the economic and technological point of view. The major new innovation of the new concession is the Frequent User Discount (DUF), a new model in Brazil that will benefit drivers who use the road more often. In practice, each ticket at the toll plaza becomes cheaper within the month and there are cases where may be discounted at around 90%.
The road will be the first Zero Carbon Highway in Brazil. The concession provides for offsetting carbon dioxide emissions from operating services. Emissions will be assessed and should be offset by generating clean energy or acquiring carbon credits.
In order to increase investments and reduce toll fees, Governor João Dória determined the adoption of a lower fixed grant amount, whose minimum value was reduced from a potential of R$2bn to only R$15m.
Initially scheduled to take place on November 28, 2019, the auction finally took place on January 8, 2020. The contract is expected to be signed in the first half of 2020.
