Cost keeps Minas Gerais hwy program at bay

A required US$165mn in counterpart funds is one of the reasons that a US$330mn highway management project for Brazil's Minas Gerais state is yet to materialize, despite a financing pre-agreement signed in 1998 between the Minas government and the World Bank, a state highway official told BNamericas. Although the official did not give a timetable of when negotiations would pick up again with the WB, a bill in the state's legislature aimed at promoting public-private partnerships - which should be approved in 30-40 days - will act as a guarantee and bolster the possibility of the Bank granting the loan. Other reasons that have kept the project from going forward include the fact that state authorities currently have their eyes on other projects, such as the Prodetur tourism development program, added the official. The highway project consists of a physical component and an institutional strengthening component, the first of which will include rehabilitating and maintaining 1,250km of highways, a maintenance pilot program on 1,000 km of highways, and recovering 18 environmentally degraded sites; and upgrading and paving 1,000 km of secondary and rural roads.