Ordinance will unlock investments in the port sector

The Ministry of Infrastructure published Ordinance 530 last Wednesday (08/14), which will ensure sound legal bases for public administration and private initiatives to make investments in the organized brazilian ports. The expectation is that the new regulation can bring up to R$5bn of investments to the sector.

The measure was announced by the Minister of Infrastructure, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, along with the National Secretary of Ports and Waterway Transportation, Diogo Piloni, during a meeting with industry representatives in Brasilia. The new regulation incorporates the management of the port lease agreements to the advantages brought by Decree 9.048/2017, called Port Decree. In addition to unlocking port operations, the ordinance meets 70 items of determinations and recommendations of the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) between 2015 and 2018, which had not yet been implemented in the Ministry’s regulations.

For Minister Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, the ordinance of brazilian ports investments removes all possible weaknesses that may have been raised in the process of drafting the new regulatory framework. “The goal is to provide more predictability, reduce risk, improve the business environment, and pave the way for new investments,” explained Freitas.

The 127 articles that make up the normative framework bring clear and transparent rules for greater legal certainty for the market and for decision-making by public managers. The new regulation was built after intense debate by the Ministry of Infrastructure, TCU, and market players.

In the evaluation of TCU’s Secretary of Port and Railway Infrastructure Inspection, Jairo Cordeiro, the ministry’s work to compile the pending issues with the Court of Auditors was comprehensive. “We hope the ordinance will bring legal certainty, regulatory stability, and unlock investments for the port sector,” said Cordeiro.

Among the main topics addressed by the new ordinance are the permission for the lessee to make investments in the common infrastructure of the port, the possibility of incorporating successive extensions to existing contracts, the establishment of greater freedom to make investments in the leased area, and the regulation of area substitution as an instrument of management and planning of the organized port.

The announcement of the measure included the Brazilian Private Terminals Association (ABTP), Brazilian Association of Liquid Terminals (ABTL), National Federation of Port Operations (FENOP), Association of Private Port Terminals (ATP), Brazilian Public Container Terminals Association (ABRATEC), Brazilian Association of Terminals and Enclosures (ABTRA), National Agency for Water Transport (ANTAQ), and the Federal Court of Accounts.

Sharing is caring!