Paraná state to invest US$385mn in infrastructure next year

Brazil's Paraná state announced a plan to invest 2.1 billion reais (US$385 million) in infrastructure projects next year.

“We want to allocate these resources to numerous works to help Paraná overcome old historical infrastructure bottlenecks that impact the price of products," Norberto Ortigara, the state’s finance secretary, said in a statement.

The Paraná government is looking to invest a total of 6.3bn reais in 2025 and has requested approval for its annual budget from state legislators.

The investments planned for the infrastructure sector will be focused on upgrading highways, paving, and construction of new roads.

Around 1.8bn reais will go to the construction of the Guaratuba bridge and widening works for highways such as the Minérios and PR-317.

"If we compare the capacity that governments have to invest with the volume invested in PPPs and concessions, we see that the private sector has a much larger investment capacity. This is why the PPP and concessions agenda is likely to continue with great strength throughout the country," Pedro Vicente Iacovino, president of the Brazilian association for private streetlighting concessionaires (Abcip), told BNamericas.

Paraná is one of the states where infrastructure investments via PPPs and concessions have surpassed the level of public investments.

Land transport regulator ANTT recently approved the tender notices and set the auction dates for the highway concessions of lots 3 and 6 in Paraná, which are expected to generate 35.1bn reais in investments.

The auction for lot 3 will be held on December 12, while the one for lot 6 will take place on December 19.

The 30-year contracts are part of a package of six highway lots in the state, of which two were offered last year with investment commitments totaling nearly 30bn reais.

"A large part of the investment in concessions takes place in the first years of these contracts. 2025 will be a year of record capex among highway concessionaires in Brazil," Marco Aurélio Barcelos, president of the country’s highway concessionaire association (ABCR), told BNamericas.

Meanwhile, on September 20, Paraná’s state-run water firm Sanepar offered 24-year PPP contracts for three lots, which were won by Acciona, Iguá Saneamento, and Saneamento Consultoria, a group formed by Aegea Saneamento and investment funds Perfin and Kinea.  

The contracts will generate combined investments worth 2.9bn reais in 112 municipalities.