The Brazilian government has announced the revision of 14 motorway concessions, dating back to the 1990s and now characterised by severe delays in the infrastructure investment originally planned or by imbalances from a technical-financial viewpoint.
According to government forecasts, thanks to this measure the public-private investment in the motorway sector expected over the next few years will reach 110 billion reais (over EUR 18 billion), with 1.6 million direct and indirect jobs created.
Investment will mainly be aimed at doubling the carriageway of several major road axes amounting to 1,566 kilometres (of which 437 kilometres are planned between 2024 and 2026) and constructing additional lanes amounting to 849 kilometres. In return for these infrastructure works, the current concessionaires will benefit from the extension of their concessions for five, ten or fifteen years, as the case may be.
In terms of user cost, the government has also blamed Brazil’s current high tolls on the high cost incurred in the past by private companies to win government concessions. Thanks to the new measure implemented by the government, Brazilian users will – at first – be able to pay lower tolls, since toll adjustments can be applied “only after the completion of new investment”.
The announced measure is part of the broader “Programme for Optimizing Concession Contracts”, adopted by the Brazilian Ministry of Transport in August 2023 and aimed at relaunching certain infrastructure works deemed strategic for the development of urban mobility and Brazilian logistics. In government’s plans, for Brazil the programme is the resumption of works that had been at a standstill for a long time due to a lack of investment and decisive action.
