Brazil to assess potential of 21 regions for urban mobility projects

Brazil's federal government will conduct a study to map the potential for urban mobility projects in 21 metropolitan regions across the nation.

The study will be coordinated by state-run development bank BNDES and the cities ministry, and will focus on urban areas with a population of at least 1mn people.

The regions to be assessed are Porto Alegre, Florianópolis, Curitiba, Santos, Campinas, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Vitória, Goiânia, the federal district of Brasília, Salvador, Maceió, Recife, João Pessoa, Natal, Teresina, São Luís, Fortaleza, Belém and Manaus.

"The study will be essential to map high- and medium-capacity projects (trains, subways, light trains and BRTs) in the country's largest metropolitan regions, contributing to reducing the historical lack of investment in the sector," Felipe Borim, superintendent of the infrastructure area at BNDES, said in a statement.

The investment deficit in the sector is at least 300bn reais (US$56.6bn), according to a study by the national industry federation CNI.

BNDES will spend 27.8mn reais on the study, which will be conducted by consultancy Bain Company in a consortium formed by the engineering companies Logit, Oficina, TYLin and the law firm Machado Meyer.

The study will take 12 months and will help the government develop a national urban mobility strategy to promote federal government partnerships with metropolitan regions to make projects viable, in addition to boosting investments in urban mobility in cities. 

The results will also contribute to the formation of a portfolio of concession projects and public-private partnerships (PPPs) that will support the promotion of investments to improve public services within the PAC federal government program.

The participation of the federal government in urban mobility projects that are usually coordinated by local governments is viewed favorably by market participants, but there are challenges to advance projects in this sector.

"Urban mobility projects, such as trains and subways, are only justified in regions with a large population, which is why we see so many projects taking place in São Paulo state, which is the most populous. Projects in other regions aren't as successful," João Cortez, a partner at infrastructure consultancy Vallya, told BNamericas.

"The federal government's efforts to map and subsequently structure projects can be a good way to correctly map out areas with greater feasibility for such projects," he added.