São Paulo’s political leaders bury the hatchet in favor of US$1.2bn tunnel project

Rival political forces are aligning to move forward a project to build an underwater road tunnel connecting the Santos and Guarujá coastal cities, in São Paulo state.

On Tuesday, state legislators created a parliamentary group composed of leaders from all parties to support the project, which will demand an investment of between 5bn reais (US$1.01bn) and 6bn reais.

"The connection between Santos and Guarujá has been dreamed about for 97 years and there has never been such great political alignment as now, involving similar desires of left and right-wing leaders, the state government and the federal administration," Tomé Abduch, head of the new parliamentary group formed in the lower house, said during a Tuesday session.

One of the main points in favor of the project moving forward now is the fact that the necessary funds are available.

"The initial investment for this project is between 5bn reais and 6bn reais, and we have 3bn reais in cash to finance the project. The rest of the funds will likely come from the federal government and the state," Anderson Pomini, president of the Santos port authority, told BNamericas.

The tunnel is a project that directly benefits Santos port as it reduces the travel time between Santos and Guarujá for trucks, as well as creating opportunities for terminal operators to install facilities on the Guarujá side, Pomini said.

The project model is still under evaluation and the alternatives are a PPP or one handled by the public sector, said Pomini, adding that in the case of a PPP a tender notice would likely be published in the second half of next year.

Works are expected to take three years to complete and could begin at the end of 2024, he said.

According to the BNamericas database, the tunnel will be at a depth of 21m and have six lanes. The project also involves a navigation channel with a 17m draft, 6km of access roads and underground and surface viaducts.