BR-163 concession is transferred to the government of Mato Grosso

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the governor of Mato Grosso, Mauro Mendes, made official the transfer of the concession for a stretch of the BR-163 to the state government, which will take over the work on duplicating the highway. The term was signed this Thursday (4th), at the Itamaraty Palace, in Brasília, where Lula was participating in the meeting to set up the Council for Sustainable Economic and Social Development, the Conselhão.

The work was put out to tender in 2013, but the concessionaire company was unable to honor its commitments and, according to Mendes, accumulated debts of R$900 million. The BR-163 is one of the main corridors for the flow of agricultural production in the central region of Brazil.

The governor explained that the solution found, in dialogue with the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) and the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT), is unprecedented and, with it, a subnational entity becomes a concessionaire of the federal government. Through the state company MT Par, the government of Mato Grosso took control of the concessionaire Rota do Oeste, which manages the stretch of the BR-163 in Mato Grosso.

“Former Minister of Finance (Economy), Paulo Guedes, has always defended that solutions should come from the market and this case is a clear example that the market is not always able to build solutions that are good for society. It was necessary for the state to step in because we contribute our resources not with the sole objective of the private market, to make a profit and be profitable. The profit we want there is to improve the logistics of Mato Grosso, it is to unblock a bottleneck in our logistics, it is to save hundreds of lives that are lost due to the collapse that exists on this highway, due to its structural condition and the large volume of traffic that we have ”, said Mauro Mendes.

The initiative allows the improvement works on the highway to be carried out immediately, without the need to undergo re-bidding. The government of Mato Grosso informed that it will invest R$ 1.6 billion in two years.

The timetable for the resumption of works has already been established, with priority stretches considering the points with the highest number of accidents and the worst traffic flow. The projection is that at least 36 kilometers of duplicate lanes will be delivered in the first year of the concession. The construction of urban crossings on stretches of the BR-163 in the northern region of the state is also planned.

According to Mauro Mendes, the government has up to eight years to complete the duplication of 440 kilometers of highway. The total concession is 850 kilometers, of which 410 kilometers of duplication have already been completed. “We have up to eight years to do this, but the government of Mato Grosso works with the perspective of bringing this deadline forward and concluding all the works in up to five years”, he said.

Transport Minister Renan Filho informed that other states may adhere to this concession transfer model and said that the federal government is already studying the same solution for the BR-101 concession in Espírito Santo.