Brazil raises US$315 million in São Paulo-Rio highway concession auction

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian CCR won the auction held at the São Paulo stock exchange and will thus continue to manage the highway for the next 30 years, extendable for a further 5.

CCR won the auction against the Ecorodovias consortium by offering the highest discount on the basic toll rate, 15.31%, compared to the 10.60% offered by its rival.

With an extension of 625 kilometers, the Presidente Dutra highway is Brazil’s most important highway as it links the country’s two most populated cities and is estimated that 50% of Brazil’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) flows through it.

Inaugurated in 1951, it is used by thousands of trucks daily in the direction of the main distribution points for goods and merchandise in the country, such as the port of Santos and Guarulhos airport, both in the state of São Paulo.

With the new concession, some R$15 billion (US$2.7 billion) in investments are planned to improve the roadway, including more than 600 kilometers of additional lanes, 80 lane duplication in Rio and 144 kilometers of adjacent lanes.

The highway will also undergo technological upgrading, with the introduction of an automatic payment system in the Guarulhos area, in the metropolitan area of São Paulo, where the country’s largest airport is located, and Wi-Fi and LED lighting throughout the highway, among other innovations.

Announced by the government as “the largest in history” for the highway segment due to the investment volume involved, the auction also included the concession of a stretch of the BR-101 highway linking the states of Rio and São Paulo along the coast, where important tourist destinations are located, such as Paraty and Angra dos Reis in the state of Rio.

The criteria for choosing the winner of the bid was based on a hybrid system, combining the lowest toll rate offered, with a maximum discount of 15.31%, and, in the event of a tie, the highest value paid to the State for the contract.

The initiative is part of the vast infrastructure privatization and concession program promoted by the government of Jair Bolsonaro since he took office in 2019, with the goal of relieving the State’s burden and rebalancing the country’s battered public accounts.

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