Brazil to hire firms for waterway concession studies

Brazil’s government kicked off the process to contract firms to produce technical studies for two waterway concessions. 

The request for information process will be led by development bank BNDES and the concessions will be for the Tapajós and Tocantins rivers, waterways regulator Antaq said in a statement. 

Interested firms have until August 30 to register at the BNDES website, using this link.

Without any real progress, several administrations have eyed waterway concessions to diversify the country’s logistics matrix, which is dominated by highways-based cargo transportation.

"I'm not sure if the best model for waterways is a concession or a PPP contract. The main uncertainty for structuring this type of contract is defining the waterway tariff mechanism that will serve as remuneration for the private sector investor, Frederico Araujo Turolla, an infrastructure specialist and partner at consultancy Pezco, told BNamericas.

The government expects to attract around 5 billion reais (US$950 million) in investments for the transportation of cargo and people via waterway concessions, Silvio Costa Filho, minister of ports and airports, said at a recent meeting with the press.

"We see waterway concessions as an initiative both to diversify our logistics matrix and also in our plan for integration with other countries in South America," said Costa Filho.