By: Leonardo Neri

In January 2021, the National Land Transportation Agency (ANTT) approved the concession notice for highways BR-153/414/080/TO/GO, considered one of the main national integration highways in Brazil. The auction is expected to take place on April 29, at the headquarters of the São Paulo Stock Exchange (B3).

This will be the first auction in the history of the infrastructure sector to be conducted using the hybrid model, which provides for the combination of the criteria of lowest tariff and highest concession value in the auction. For this concession round, the notices will be published in Portuguese and English, favoring the participation of foreign companies. The requirements in the notice for proving technical qualifications have also been simplified, favoring greater competition in the auction.

According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, the purpose of using the hybrid model is to preserve investments against very aggressive bids that could jeopardize the concessionaire's financial health.

The concession section covers the BR-153/TO/GO highway, between Aliança do Norte and Anápolis, included in the future Concession, has a length of 624.1 km, of which 598.3 km are single lane; 26.5 km are double lane with central reservation, in addition to 9.2 km of marginal roads, of which 2.8 km are unpaved. The BR-080/GO, between Gurupi (BR-153) and Assunção de Goiás (BR-414) has a length of 87 km of single lane and the BR-414/GO, between Assunção de Goiás and Anápolis, has 139.6 km of single lane.

Furthermore, the concession will have a term of 30 years for the exploration of the infrastructure and the provision of the public service of recovery, conservation, maintenance, operation, implementation of improvements and expansion of capacity and is expected to involve R$8.46 billion in investments and R$6.18 billion in operating costs and expenses and will stimulate national logistics, improving the flow of cargo and bringing investments to the country.