Brazilian development banks join forces to structure PPPs for states and cities

Brazilian development bank BNDES and southern region development bank BRDE have joined forces to support the structuring of PPPs and concession contracts for states and municipalities.

"With a term of 36 months, the partnership aims to promote the sharing of information, practices and processes, to technically and operationally support states and municipalities in the identification, selection, design and structuring of shared concession and public-private partnership (PPP) projects," BNDES said in a statement.

The support of local development banks is considered key to help Brazil resolve bottlenecks regarding the creation of new PPPs and concessions to be offered by state and local governments.

"In public administration in Brazil, state and municipal governments no longer face ideological resistance to PPPs or concessions. The current issue is that many cities, particularly small and medium-sized, don't have a sufficient number of employees and specialists to work on structuring these projects," said Pedro Vicente Iacovino, president of the Brazilian association of public lighting concessionaires, told BNamericas.

Streetlighting has been one of the most dynamic segments in Brazil in terms of new PPP contracts in recent years. 

According to BRDE's CEO, Ranolfo Vieira Júnior, the partnership with the federal bank will enable more effective action in the concession of assets and the provision of public services with greater efficiency.

“We aim to further enhance our technical support of municipalities and more broadly address the policies defined by each state where we operate. The main goal is always to seek quality in the services made available to citizens, ensuring investments that might otherwise take years to materialize," Vieira Júnior said in a BRDE statement.