The 12 countries of South America should pay about $21 billion over the next 12 months on 31 infrastructure projects that will extend the regional integration. The data were presented on this Tuesday by the Federation of Industries in the State of São Paulo (Fiesp), which opened the Latin American Infrastructure Forum, with the participation of the Union of South American Nations (Unasul), as well as authorities and entrepreneurs from various countries of the region.
The projects, many of them underway, include mainly transport, communications and energy works. Out of the 31 initiatives that comprise the Priority Integration Projects Agenda (API), 11 have participation of Brazil, and ten of them are part of the Brazilian Growth Acceleration Program (PAC – Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento).
The financing of these projects is being defined on a case-by-case basis. There is no single model, but Carlos Cavalcanti, director of the Department of Infrastructure at Fiesp, believes that the private sector concession regime is preferential, because it frees the government to invest in other sectors. He said that the amount of $21 billion can increase quickly, because some projects were still in the process of feasibility study, which does not include the total forecast of cost with works.
According to Maria Emma Mejía, secretary general of Unasul, the plan should contribute for the group of Latin American countries to expand infrastructure investment-to-GDP ratio to a percentage between 5% and 8%. Most recent survey on the numbers of the 12 nations together shows that this amount was equivalent to 2.3% in 2008.
As notícias estão em todo lugar. Reportagens e entrevistas exclusivas sobre o setor ferroviário, só na RF — desde 1940.
Por R$ 8,42/mês — parcele em 12x sem juros.
This is only possible with large-scale works, Maria Emma said. According to her, it will take three more decades of investments so that the contribution in infrastructure earns five percentage points in relation to region’s GDP. With the logistics integration, the idea is to expand the development and improve the trade competitiveness of the countries involved in a market of 400 million inhabitants.
Competitiveness
For Brazil, these efforts can compensate somewhat for the loss of competitiveness created by the country’s currency appreciation and tax burden, increasing exports of the country.
Exports from Brazil to South America today are greater than those for the United States, reminds Cecilio Perez Bordón, president pro tempore of Unasul.
It is expected a disbursement of $3.485 billion to the structuring projects in the Amazon Axis, $2.530 billion earmarked for a road axis linking Lima (Peru) to Manaus (Brazil). There are five projects in the Andean Axis, notably road projects, with estimated cost of $3.682 billion. Just the road corridor Caracas-Bogotá-Quito should consume $3.350 billion.
In the so-called Capricorn Axis, another $3.480 billion should be spent. One of the most important works is the bioceanic railroad corridor Paranaguá-Antofagasta, valued at $2.1 billion. The works of the Interoceanic Central Axis are valued at $5.362 billion, with emphasis on the Bolivian stretch of the bioceanic railroad corridor, which will cost $5 billion.
About $1.050 billion will be spent on Guyana Shield Axis, involving highways passing through Brazil, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela. In the Paraguay-Parana Waterway Axis, the improvement of the navigability of the Rio de la Plata Basin rivers should demand investments of $1.165 billion. The Mercosur-Chile Axis has works of highways, railways, river and energy interconnections totaling $2.200 billion. In the Peru-Brazil-Bolivia axis, a single project is scheduled in the amount of $119 million and should connect Porto Velho to the Peruvian coast by highway.
Seja o primeiro a comentar