Figueiredo: notice to bid of HSR should be launched by the end of the year

The project that envisages the construction of a high-speed rail between Campinas, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro is back on track, with the expectation that the notice to bid of work is known until the end of this year.

“I am in tune with the project, I like the venture. We have to work for it to be launched as quickly as possible,” the CEO of Empresa de Transporte Ferroviário de Alta Velocidade (Etav), Bernardo Figueiredo, said to Valor.

Next week, Figueiredo should have a meeting with Transport Minister Paulo Passos to adjust the composition of the board of the new state-owned company. Created to be the arm of the government in managing the bullet train, Etav had its official creation today, in the Official Gazette. The company will be a privately held corporation with initial capital of $24.67 million.

The expectation is that the operation of the state-owned company should begin as soon as possible. Among the definitions to be made, is the detail of how Etav will relate to the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT – Agência Nacional de Transportes Terrestres), which has so far led all actions linked to the bullet train.

Invited by President Dilma Rousseff to assume the position, Bernardo Figueiredo was out of government since March, when the Senate did not approve his reappointment to the command of ANTT. “I’m going back now. We will resume the project and see where things are standing,” he said.

Choosing Figueiredo to lead Etav has no surprise. In line with the government, he has been leading the project since former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva decided that the country needed a high-speed rail. Lula tried to bid the work for the first time in 2010, but failed because of a series of questions that the contractors had on the feasibility of the project. Since then, there were two more attempts to auction the venture. Both failed.

The government changed various rules of the notice to bid, but continued to defend the thesis that it is possible to build the bullet train with approximately $19 billion. For companies in the industry, the bill can reach up to twice that.

The constitution of Etav can finally put an end to this discussion. The plan provides that the state-owned company be responsible for the work engineering executive project, a detailed technical report that promises to clarify each point of conflict in the venture.

The expectation is that this executive project cost about $266 million and this amount is fully funded by the government. The technical information that the government holds on the bullet train so far are limited to a basic project, a simpler study, but that will be used for the agency to promote the first auction to hire the system operator.

There was the expectation that the auction took place this year, but the minister Paulo Passos has indicated that the deadline may be compromised because it still need to hold public hearings after the publication of the notice to bid, and submit it to the Brazilian Court of Audit.

From this choice of the bullet train operator, the executive study will be completed, which will delimit the completion of the second auction in 2013, to choose the builders of the project. At the same time, it is expected of Etav to provide about $1.5 billion in environmental and expropriation costs.