The National Land Transport Agency (ANTT) gave approval this Tuesday (25) for the execution of five new contracts for the construction of private railways, with a total of R$ 16.7 billion in investments.
Two will be built by Rumo, which will invest a total of BRL 11.3 billion in the projects, another two are of interest to VLI, which intends to invest BRL 4.71 billion in the projects, and the fifth is a railway planned by Petrocity, with an investment of R$ 739 million. If they get off the ground, the routes will total more than a thousand new kilometers of railroads.
As shown by Broadcast (Grupo Estado’s real-time news system), the forecast is that the authorization contracts will be signed by the government this Wednesday (26) in a ceremony at ANTT, held four days before the second round.
The planned investments with the private railways are recurrently mentioned in the electoral race for the presidency.
The Ministry of Infrastructure and the regulatory agency have already received 95 requests for authorization of new railways since the government issued, in August of last year, a Provisional Measure releasing the private regime for railway operation. According to ANTT director Luciano Lourenço, interested companies estimate a total investment of R$ 295 billion in the projects.
Of the total applications, 27 to date have become railway authorization contracts. The Minister of Infrastructure, Marcelo Sampaio, has already recognized that not all orders are fully viable to get off the ground – a point frequently raised by the sector, which fears an accumulation of ‘paper railways’ that will not be executed in practice.
Last week, Sampaio assessed that the most advanced undertaking is that of Eldorado Celulose, which obtained authorization to build a stretch between its factory in Três Lagoas (MS) and the city of Aparecida do Taboado (MS).
New projects
The authorizations analyzed by ANTT this Tuesday were approved under the rules of the new legal framework for railways, in force since January. Rumo presented projects to build two stretches: one between Santa Rita do Trivelato (MT) and Sinop (MT), with 250 kilometers and planned investments of around R$ 3.8 billion, and another between Primavera do Leste (MT) and Ribeirão Cascalheira (MT), with 500 kilometers and an estimated 7.5 billion. The first should come into operation in 2041, and the second in 2039.
VLI, another railroad operator consolidated in the market, wants to build routes between São Desidério (BA) and Riachão das Neves (BA) – a 140-kilometer stretch and R$ 2.96 billion in investments, which will come into operation at the beginning 2030 – and between Correntina (BA) and Arrojolândia (BA), with 83 kilometers, R$ 1.75 billion of investments and operation scheduled to start also in 2030.
Petrocity Ferrovias, on the other hand, wants to undertake a 68-kilometer railroad between Corumbá de Goiás (GO) and Anápolis (GO), with R$ 739 million in planned investments, and expected start-up in July 2028.
According to Lourenço, director who reported on three of the five projects, the stretch of Rumo between Primavera do Leste and Ribeirão Cascalheira will be aimed at transporting solid bulk, such as soybeans, corn, fertilizers and fertilizers, crossing seven municipalities in Mato Grosso.
The railroad planned by VLI to link Riachão das Neves and São Desidério will transport grains, fertilizers and cotton, crossing three municipalities in Bahia. The Petrocity section will be designed to carry grain and other bulk cargo, general cargo and containers, traveling through three cities in Goiás.
Source: CNN Brasil
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