Engie wins US$60mn Curitiba streetlighting PPP

Engie won Wednesday’s auction of a public-private partnership contract to manage and operate streetlighting in Curitiba, capital of Brazil’s Paraná state. 

The company offered to charge no more than 3.84mn reais (US$724,528) per month for the service, a discount of 71% on the reference price, beating six other firms.

"We have more than 1mn lighting points under management in the world and in Brazil 130,000 in Uberlandia and Petrolina cities. It is a great opportunity for us now to add one more project to our portfolio," Engie’s smart cities and infrastructure business development manager, Tiago Oliveira, said after the auction.

Engie will invest 324mn reais (US$61mn) during the 24-year contract period. Around 157,000 public lighting points will be modernized and benefit 1.9mn people. 

Streetlighting PPPs are increasingly common in Brazil as municipalities seek to reduce fixed costs and development bank BNDES is helping local governments with structuring. Project finance players are also active in the segment.

"We have been working on several project finance operations for streetlighting PPP contracts. This segment is highly regarded among banks’ project finance teams because the cash flow is constant," Ricardo Uras Neto, a project finance partner at investment bank BTG Pactual, told BNamericas.

So far, 70 streetlighting PPPs were signed in Brazil, totaling projected investments of 22bn reais, while 400 other PPPs are being structured, according to most recent figures by streetlighting association Abcip.