Lack of investment produces bottlenecks

The lack of investments over the last two decades has produced the bottlenecks and inefficiencies which the National Plan for Transport Logistics (Plano Nacional de Logística de Transporte – PNLT) now seeks to solve. This statement was made by the Minister for Transport, Paulo Passos, during the Estadão Regions Forum/South. “There is still a lot to be done. A backlog of two decades can not be solved in four years”, Mr. Passos pondered.

To draw up the PNLT, the Government studied the vocation and also the type of development of what they called each logistic axis in the country. In some cases, like that of the South Region, the priority is effectively that of relieving the bottlenecks and thus improving the efficiency of the transport systems.

In others, like the Center-West, the idea is that of expanding the network so that the new production hubs may be reached. In all, in the whole country, the investment portfolio as described in the PNLT, sets a horizon as far as 2025 with 917 different projects – 332 motorways, 332 railroads and 51 waterways.

In the South Region, among other projects thus listed, the Minister highlighted the investment in intermodal transport hubs and also in a ring railroad around Curitiba which shall help to send the production down to the port of Paranaguá without crossing the metropolitan area.

After stating that the South Region shall be part of the “backbone” of the Brazilian railroad system, the minister said that the Government shall start studies to take the North-South Railroad as far as the city of Rio Grande, in the South of Rio Grande do Sul”, he completed.

The study, whose cost has been set at R$ 9 million (€ 4.03 million), shall plan a wide-gauge railroad starting out from the city of Panorama, on the border of São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul, with a total of 1.6 thousand kilometers (994 miles) of track, across the three states of the South Region.

Praises. The President of ALL Logística, Bernardo Hees, has praised the Government plan. It sets a focus and also guides investments, so that private enterprise may operate together with the official plans”, he defined. The executive also remembered that the rice produced in Rio Grande do Sul and also 70% of the general production of grain in that state and also in Paraná is already transported by rail to consumer centers and ports, and wrapped things up by saying: “Something correct is being done”.

Despite the emphasis on the use of other types of transport, the Minister has said that the doubling of the BR-101 motorway is “the most important project within the current set of intervention work in the federal plan”.

The PNLT plans for investments of some R$ 300 billion (€ 134.5 billion) up to 2025, which works out at R$ 20 billion (€ 8.97 billion) per year. The current level of investment is R$ 14 billion (€ 6.28 billion) per year.