Changes in the HST Notice to Bid

With the compromise of not postponing the auction once more, scheduled for July 29th, and neither changing the bidding model, the government accepted the demands from the private sector in the bullet train project and will make some changes in the notice to bid so as to assure the attendance of the highest number of company as possible.

The changes must include the possibility of non immediate transfer of technology to the country and higher flexibility in the line tracing, reports the journalist Vivian Oswald.

The tracing change may have implications on the costs of the winner group, as the connection between Rio de Janeiro, located at sea level, and São Paulo, at 750 meters of altitude, must traverse a long mountain range section, with detours and tunnel constructions.

By its turn, the longer term for transferring technology enables the companies to overcome legal barriers, and even internal regulations, to transfer their know-how to third-parties.

Some of them have restrictions to make this transfer at once. In addition, this is a way to protect them from competition for other sections, such as Curitiba-SP, Belo Horizonte-SP and SP-Triângulo Mineiro.

ANTT (National Agency for Land Transportation) must publish all the changes already in the next days. The Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Transports, Paulo Passos, said he is optimistic about the formation of consortiums, and stated that South Korean, French and German companies are still interested.