Brazil to seek technical studies for new BR-101 highway concession

Brazil published the notice for technical studies related to the reoffer of the concession to administrate 476km of the BR-101 highway.

“The work involves carrying out studies on traffic, demand, operation, engineering, economic and financial modeling and legal studies. The expectation is that the conclusion of the material, which will be submitted during the public hearing phase, will happen in approximately one year,” state-run logistics firm Infra S.A. said in a statement.

The original concession holder Eco101, a unit of Ecorodovias, returned the contract last year.

The original contract covered 458km in Espírito Santo state and 21km in Bahia and was awarded in 2012. But projected traffic didn’t materialize, leading to weakened investment capacity. Other reasons for the return were a slow environmental licensing process and lack of land expropriations.

According to the notice, Infra S.A. will also contract feasibility studies for the concession of stretches of the BR-259/ES and BR-262/ES highways in Espírito Santo, and BR-381 in Minas Gerais. Works will be carried out in parallel with those on BR-101, Infra S.A. said.