The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes (PSD), stated that he is going to call the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) into questioning the concession notice for the Santos Dumont airport. The draft was approved by the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) this Tuesday (21) and includes another 15 terminals, such as Congonhas, in São Paulo.
The federal government’s expectation is to hold the auction in the first half of 2022, with contracts totaling R$ 19.1 billion and R$ 8.6 billion in investments over a 30-year period.
The notice goes on for analysis by TCU, which needs to approve the process. Anac made changes to the document after criticism from authorities and associations in Rio de Janeiro, who fear an emptying of the city’s other airport, Tom Jobim, better known as Galeão. However, the changes, according to Paes, do not bring the expected result.
“These measures now included in the notice are merely palliative and will not make up for this market failure that we have in Rio de Janeiro. This question cannot be treated with simple free market logic. In other words, the changes made to the notice do not include the city of Rio de Janeiro. We need to have a competitive international airport for the city, which is the gateway for tourists to the country”, he declared.
The mayor of Rio informed that the Attorney General’s Office of the Municipality has already guided the activation of the TCU, but he also does not rule out a lawsuit. The main problem raised is the possibility of Santos Dumont operating international destinations, currently fixed at Galeão.
What changed in the notice?
Santos Dumont leads the RJ-MG block, which also includes the Jacarepaguá terminals, also in the state capital, and Montes Claros, Uberlândia and Uberaba, in Minas Gerais. The minimum initial bid is R$324 million, with an estimated value of R$5.8 billion for the entire contract.
The new wording extended from three to five years the period for mandatory investments before the terminal can increase the number of flights. The change would give Galeão more time to adapt and compete with Santos Dumont. wanted by CNN, RIOgaleão informed that, as a public service concessionaire, it prefers not to comment on the process.
“On the one hand, the urgent expansion and improvement of the infrastructure of airport sites was considered, at the same time as the complexity of managing the impacts arising from the works and the need to maintain the level of operational safety were considered. Thus, it is important to ensure adequate time for proper planning and for the participation of the various actors involved in the construction of infrastructure solutions in those sites”, pointed out the CEO of Anac, Juliano Alcântara Noman, while reading the vote for approval of the notice , this Tuesday.
Fernando Villela, coordinator of the Airport Infrastructure Regulation Committee at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation Law School in Rio de Janeiro, believes that Anac sought a balance with this decision. “Between giving Galeão airport additional time, to recover and recover demand, number of passengers, but at the same time, provide legal certainty and predictability for those interested in Santos Dumont”, he pointed out.
However, the researcher admits that the change does not meet the expectations of politicians and authorities in Rio de Janeiro. The president of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro, André Ceciliano (PT), argues that the notice may ‘break’ Galeão.
“We defend that Santos Dumont is intended for travels of up to 500 km, in addition to the Rio-Brasília-São Paulo air bridge, and that Galeão should be dedicated to long domestic flights and international trips, in addition to a cargo terminal, which is fundamental. for the state’s economy”, he stated.
Ceciliano is the author of a legislative decree, approved last week by state deputies, which impedes works on the Santos Dumont track. The objective of the text was precisely to pressure the federal government for changes in the concession.
A CNN he sought out Governor Cláudio Castro’s press office, but had no return.
Reference: CNN Brasil
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