New secretary claims that the schedule to privatize the Port of Santos is tight

Mário Povia, the new National Secretary of Ports at the Ministry of Infrastructure, recognized that the schedule to privatize the Port of Santos still in 2022 is very tight. According to him, to make this scenario possible, the government needs to submit a high-quality project to the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU – Brazil) and thereby mitigate the risk of complications that could potentially delay the process. “It is important to be transparent and recognize that we will have no slack in this period,” he said.

Povia confirmed that, according to the current schedule, the modeling project would be submitted to TCU by the end of the month. The Court will then have to approve the operation within three months, giving enough time to issue a public notice by October.

Under these circumstances, the auction would take place in December, preferentially by the 14th. However, given the tight schedule under which the government works, Povia does not rule out the necessity of a “Plan B,” in which only the public notice release would happen this year, and the auction would occur in 2023.

Project modeling 

“Despite not being our plan A, it would be important to at least finish the project modeling and launch the public notice still in this year, he says. If that happens, the auction for the largest port complex in Latin America could be in the hands of a new government, in the scenario in which President Bolsonaro is not re-elected.”

“There is no hidden agenda. We recognize that the schedule is tight, and we need to create a strategy with TCU. So will we do,” said Povia, who took over the secretariat after Diogo Piloni’s departure. The new secretary was once the general director of the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq).

The proposal to sell the Port of Santos is the latest massive bet on the Bolsonaro government’s privatization strategy, which began this year with the sale of Companhia Docas do Espirito Santo (Codesa) and the TCU’s confirmation of Eletrobras’ capitalization.

Recognizing the tight schedule, Povia said that the demand for quality is “above everything” so that the studies are delivered to the TCU in the “state of the art.” “We are on a good path,” said the secretary, noting that the format is also not unfamiliar to the Court of Accounts, which recently approved the privatization of Codesa, which was sold in an auction held in March.

Source: InfoMoney

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