São Paulo – Next week the minutes of the call to tender and the contract for the construction of a high-speed train to connect Rio de Janeiro and Campinas, crossing São Paulo, should be open to public inquiry on the Internet. The period for inquiries should last a month. The total value of the project, with public and private investment, should reach 34.6 billion Brazilian reals (US$ 20 billion).
According to Agência Brasil, in January, there will be public audiences in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Campinas, São José dos Campos and Barra Mansa/Volta Redonda. The call to tender should be published in February.
The proposals presented by companies interested should be open in May. The winner should be the consortium requiring the lowest public investment and offering the lowest fares. The company or consortium winning should be responsible for the construction and will have the concession for a period of 40 years.
According to the executive secretary at the Ministry of Transportation, Paulo Sérgio Passos, the winner of the tender will be the company offering the lowest public demand for public financing and the lowest price ceiling for train tickets. The total value of the project, including public and private investment, should reach US$ 20 billion.
The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) should place up to 20.9 billion reals (US$ 12 billion). Another 3.3 billion reals (US$ 1.9 billion) should be offered by the Eximbank (the foreign trade bank) of the country of origin of the winning consortium. The tender should include companies from Japan, China, South Korea, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
Purpose
Apart from this financing, a Special Purpose Enterprise (SPE) should be established to build and manage the high-speed train. A public engineering and technology company should also be established by the government of Brazil to receive the transfer of technology – one of the conditions for participation in the auction – and should participate with 30% of the capital of the SPE, to manage the train.
Thus, with the formation of the companies, 7 billion reals (US$ 4 billion) in private capital will be turned to the formation of the SPE, alongside 3.3 billion reals (US$ 1.9 billion) of National Treasury capital in the establishment of a new company – with a division of 70% private and 30% public investment in the capital of the train itself.
Passos refused the possibility of the government taking on the risk of demand for the private companies participating in the winning consortium. “It is not possible to take on the risk of demand when taking into consideration the dimensions of participation in the government project,” said the executive secretary on returning from a meeting with the minister of Transportation, Alfredo Nascimento, and with president Luís Inácio Lula da Silva.
He also said that these companies should have to prove their experience in projects of this kind and that they have technology to be transferred to Brazil. When inquired whether it is possible for the enterprise to be ready by the 2014 World Cup, Passos was cautious.
According to him, the schedule for operation of the train will only be known after the winning bid is approved. "It is improbable that it will be approved by 2014, the schedule is a little tight, the project is complex. But it is not possible to speculate on something that will only be known at the end of the tender,” he said.
*Translated by Mark Ament
