HSR auction will no longer be postponed, says ANTT

The auction for the high speed rail deployment, scheduled for July 29, will no longer be postponed, the Director General of the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT – Agência Nacional de Transportes Terrestres), Bernardo Figueiredo, assured yesterday. If we do not have an objective position to carry out the auction, we must rethink the project, he said.

Mr. Figueiredo also said that no changes are being studied in the auction notice, but changes may be made in relation to the rules for transfer of technology. He said that he has not been sought by those interested in participating in the auction after the announcement of the postponement last week. This is a sign that everything is going well.

The bullet train project, which will connect the cities of Campinas, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, was debated yesterday during public hearing of the Senate’s Infrastructure Committee. Last Thursday (7), ANTT postponed for the second time the auction that will define those responsible for building the bullet train. The bidding, which initially would take place in December last year, had already been postponed to April, but now it will only happen in July.

At the hearing, the legislative consultant Marcos José Mendes defended again that the total cost of the high speed rail could reach US$ 31.44 billion – the government estimates the cost around US$ 20.75 billion – if unforeseen during the works such as changes in trace because of environmental requirements or increasing costs of drilling tunnels are taken into account. Mendes says that government spending with the work should be between US$ 9.43 and US$ 22 billion.

Figueiredo, from ANTT, defended the project and recalled that this technology is the best suited to meet the demand of passengers in Rio-São Paulo axis, because it is a safe, reliable, predictable and low cost service. Brazil has to dare, we cannot get behind with regard to technology, he said.