Brazil Audit Court Clears Adjustments for Santos-Guarujá Tunnel Auction, No Delay Expected

Representatives of the Federal and State governments met on Wednesday (27) in Brasília with Bruno Dantas, Minister of the Federal Audit Court (TCU). They agreed on the necessary adjustments to the modeling for the auction of the Santos-Guarujá immersed tunnel. The auction is scheduled for September 5 at the São Paulo Stock Exchange (B3). Authorities assured there will be no delay in the timetable.

Last Thursday, Dantas, rapporteur of the tunnel project at the TCU, visited Santos to inspect the areas where the tunnel will pass, including a boat trip through the navigation channel. On the same day, he issued a ruling identifying potential weaknesses in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, pointing to flaws that could compromise legal certainty, governance, and the proper use of federal funds in the project.

According to Anderson Pomini, president of the Santos Port Authority (APS), the meeting aimed to reinforce the legal security of the project. With the adjustments indicated by the TCU, the partnership between APS, the Federal Government, and the State Government will be further strengthened, ensuring the governance needed to execute what he described as “the most important project in Brazil today.”

Also present were the Minister of Ports and Airports, Silvio Costa Filho; the State Secretary for Environment, Infrastructure and Logistics, Natália Resende; and representatives of the Federal Attorney General’s Office (AGU).

The expected outcome, Pomini emphasized, is that once the issues raised are addressed, the tunnel project will move forward according to schedule, marking a historic milestone for integration between Santos and Guarujá and for national development. The State Government did not comment on the meeting.

Concerns raised

In his ruling last week, Minister Dantas highlighted four critical points identified by the TCU’s technical audit:

1. Risk matrix: deemed generic and incompatible with the complexity of an immersed tunnel at Brazil’s main port.
2. Intergovernmental governance: the lack of a formal decision-making body among the Union, the State, and APS has led to unilateral decisions, such as the State’s increase of a R$840 million contract without prior agreement.
3. Asset ownership: unclear definition—while the contract stipulates that the tunnel will be transferred to the State after the concession, the project is being built on federal land with significant federal funding.
4. APS funding instrument: absence of a formal legal mechanism to regulate APS’s financial contribution, creating legal uncertainty and hindering oversight.

Despite the weaknesses, the TCU concluded the problems could be resolved with adjustments to the agreement.

Source: A Tribuna

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