Government can divide risks of HST

The federal government can share with the deprived initiative the environmental risks and of demand of the high-speed train Rio-São Paulo. The hypothesis is not being considered, however, of sharing of the work risk. According to Paulo Sérgio Passos, secretary-executive of the Ministry of the Transports, those points were demanded during the period of public consultation by the interested companies and the Agência Nacional de Transportes Terrestres (ANTT) is examining the possible forms of division of possible increases of costs.

In the budget of HST [high-speed train] already the costs of environmental compensation are foreseen. Eventually they can be larger, and the one that the companies want to know is how they will be absorbed the additional costs, if there is. Passos was with the president of ANTT, Bernardo Figueiredo, in meeting with entrepreneurs in the Associação Brasileira da Infraestrutura e Indústrias de Base (Abdib), in São Paulo.

Figueiredo says that the government is confident in relation to the studies done to base the budget of the project. Therefore, the largest care of the agency in their evaluations is it of getting to give safety to the investors without accommodating them. There is no resistance of the companies to the project, they are taking more detailed contact now with him. The government works with a budget of R$ 34,6 billion. If it goes more expensive or cheaper, is won or risk of them [investors].

In that way, the government opted to give more warranties in relation to the demand and to the environmental compensations, and not to the increase of cost of the work. In the beginning a lot of uncertainty was had, but the construction risk is inherent to their activities. It is very difficult to separate what is an occurrence in function of bad administration and what is a thing that is out of the control. Therefore it is not in discussion the work risk. That risk you put in the price, it says him.

In the case of the projection of the number of passengers that they should use the line along the time, something that arrives at 100 million people in 2044, Figueiredo explains that there are several forms of dividing with the entrepreneur her risk it doesn’t confirm. For being a common concession, it is discarded the option of giving subsidies, what would characterize a Parceira Público-Privada (PPP). The one that the government can do is something saw financing, it is to harness the return of the financing to the demand. It has several forms that are being analyzes.”

According to Passos, the announcement of the HST it should be put for public consultation in the first fortnight of November. The project will be directed formally to the Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU) next week. In case TCU finishes his evaluation in up to 40 days, the auction could be initiate in December, with expectation of end of the auction in February of 2010. We will have everything very defined until the end of the first semester of next year, he says.

Another project that should also have soon some definition is it of concession of three passages of federal highways that cross the State of Minas Gerais: BR-040, of Brasília to the boundary of Minas Gerais with Rio de Janeiro; BR-381, of Belo Horizonte to Governor Valadares; and BR-116, of the boundary of Minas Gerais with Bahia to the boundary of Minas with Rio de Janeiro. According to the secretary-executive of the Ministry of the Transports, the announcement it should be thrown in February of next year, with perspective of the auction to be accomplished in April.

In relation to railroads, Passos says that the government wait that the previous licenses of prolongation of the Norte-Sul RR between Anápolis (GO) and Estrela do Oeste (SP) and Oeste-Leste RR from Ilhéus to Luiz Eduardo, in Bahia, come out until February of next year. We are awaiting that Ibama approves the previous licenses and immediately we will make the auction of the works.

Fonte: Valor Econômico