In an interview with CNN this Saturday night (11), André Nassar, president of Abiove (Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries), stated that his expectation regarding the appreciation of the Legal Framework for Railways by the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies, which should happen this Monday (13), is that the text is approved without changes.
Voting was initially scheduled for last Thursday (9). However, it had to be postponed due to lack of agreement for the approval of the project.
For Nassar, the acceptance of the measure is in “great interest of the Federal Government”. “As users of the railroad system in Brazil, we hope there will be no changes. The Government wants more railways and we want market competitiveness. We had this conversation both in the Senate and in the Chamber, and the chances of a setback are very low”, he says.
Proposed in 2018, Marco das Ferrovias wants to change the rules for investments and operation of the sector. The text has already been approved in the Senate, and will now be voted on in the Chamber of Deputies. If approved, it goes to presidential approval.
The main change with the project is the creation of a new model for carrying out investments and construction of railways, the authorization modality. “The private sector will be able to build and operate railways. If the construction depended only on the Government, this would not happen”, says Nassar.
Thus, the State allows private entities to invest in projects without pre-determination by the State regarding location, extension and other characteristics, as in the current concession model. With this, the investor will assume the risk of the operation, but will act in projects of interest to him.
The text also establishes that companies, such as mining or agribusiness, may invest in just one section of a railway, instead of having to invest in the entire route.
According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, the idea is to reduce underutilization of the Brazilian rail network. Data from the folder show that there are only 25% of the roads in full operation, and 46% have low traffic. Already 29% continue without commercial operation.
*With information from Bia Gurgel and João Malar
Reference: CNN Brasil
