Minas-Rio Corridor will be approved by the TCU "by the end of the month", says minister

The concession project for the Minas-Rio corridor must be approved by the TCU (Federal Audit Court) by the end of June, according to Transport Minister George Santoro this Thursday (11).

The speech took place during the event "New Paths on Rails: The Future of Railways in Brazil", at Arena B3, in São Paulo.

According to Santoro, with approval, the project notice must be published.

The auction, initially scheduled for April, was postponed and the event is expected to take place in the last quarter of this year.

This is the first railway project to adopt the public call model, different from traditional bidding, and should serve as a reference for future government authorizations in the sector.

The project was divided into two lots. The first is 625.8 kilometers long and connects Iguatama (MG) to Barra Mansa (RJ), in addition to the section between Varginha (MG) and Lavras (MG). The second batch connects Barra Mansa (RJ) to Angra dos Reis (RJ) and has a length of 107 kilometers.

The idea is to connect Minas Gerais to the Port of Angra dos Reis (RJ), creating a railway and port alternative for cargo coming from the interior of Minas Gerais.

As CNN showed, the government's strategy, according to sources who spoke to the report, is to use this first case as a basis for standardizing the procedure with the TCU, allowing future projects to advance more quickly and gain scale.

Technicians from the Ministry of Transport, ANTT and the Court of Auditors have held frequent meetings to align understanding on the new format. The expectation is that, after this first validation, the next public calls will be processed more quickly, with simplified analyzes by the Court.

Source: CNN