Brasília – The president of the Brazilian Airport Infrastructure Company (Infraero), Gustavo do Vale, stated today (14th) that government investment in the sector will not change in spite of the concession of airports to the private initiative. According to him, the forecasted budget until 2014 is 5.6 billion reals (US$ 3,5 billion) for 13 airports in cities that will host matches of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
“All of the investment made by the Infraero will be taken into account when setting the value of the grant that the private investor will have to pay to the federal government for the concession of the airports,” he explained.
Recently, the federal government announced that the airports of Brasília, the federal district, Guarulhos, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, and Viracopos, in the city of Campinas, in the interior of the state of São Paulo, will be explored by the private initiative, which will be allowed to own a minimum of 51% of the capital, whereas the Infraero should keep up to 49%. The government is also considering concessions in the airports of Confins (state of Minas Gerais) and Galeão (state of Rio de Janeiro).
Vale attended a meeting today with representatives of several sectors of the industry, at the headquarters of the National Confederation of Industries (CNI, in the Portuguese acronym). He presented a timetable for works at the main airports in the country, and the current status of each project. The president of the CNI Infrastructure Council, José Mascarenhas, claimed that the businessmen were taken by surprise, in a good way, with the information disclosed by the Infraero.
The president of Infraero stated that eventual increases in taxes at the airports to be privatized must be negotiated with the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac). “I cannot say for certain that airport taxes will increase because of the concessions. But the airports are not straying from the regulations of the Anac, the only thing that will change is the concession holder for the airport. The Anac sets minimum and maximum prices, so these airports will have flexibility to work with the taxes.”
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
