“Brazil needs to invest R$ 30 billion per year in transport”

For Brazil to have a suitable transport structure, the investments in the segment need to be expanded to a level around R$ 30 billion per year. This assessment has been made by the Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Ministry of Transport, Paulo Sérgio Oliveira Passos, who this Tuesday took part in a seminar about heavy construction, in São Paulo.

As he sees it, in 2010, the investments in the segment came to some R$ 20 billion, of which R$ 16 billion paid by the Government. “It is possible to expand this dimension”, he guaranteed.
Last week, the Brazilian Minister for Planning, Miriam Belchior, made a comment during an event held in São Paulo, saying that she believes that the reduction in taxes for the purchase of machines and equipment shall also help the expansion of investments in infrastructure in Brazil.

For this year, the Government expects that public and private investments in transport throughout the country should come to around R$ 20 billion, like last year. However, this figure could increase significantly over the next few years if the projects as identified by a study conducted by the LCA consultancy firm and the Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) should materialize.

According to the study, mentioned by the Director of the Building Industry (Departamento da Indústria da Construção – Deconcic) of the Federation of Industry of the State of São Paulo (Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo – Fiesp), Manuel Rossitto, during the seminar, the investments of the Brazilian transport sector through to 2022 have been put at R$ 410 billion.

This total includes the funds that have been invested for the implementation of the bullet train project in the country, the auction for which shall take place on July 29.
The Government’s expectation is that, over the next few years, the transport matrix of the country should undergo changes, with greater emphasis being given to railway and waterway transport, so as to reduce the participation of the roads.

“This does not mean we shall stop investing in roads. Brazil is a country that has still not built what would be its basic motorway network”, emphasized Mr. Passos, adding that the key point is that of investment in strategic axes.

By 2002, according to the study made by FIESP, R$ 2 trillion should be invested in general infrastructure in Brazil, and another R$ 3 trillion on housing.