Tender launched for management of EPZ at Açu port

On Thursday, October 29, the Government of Rio de Janeiro launched the call for tenders to select the company that will set up and manage the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Porto do Açu, in São João da Barra, in the northern region of the state of Rio de Janeiro. It will be the second EPZ in the country (the other one is the Pecém Complex, in Ceará), but will be the first to be entirely managed by a private company. The forecast is that the enterprise, which has a regime exempt from federal taxes and reduction of state and municipal taxes, will start operating in 2023. It is estimated that 2 thousand jobs will be generated with the EPZ in full operation.

The winner of the process will have to purchase the 1.8 square kilometer plot of land from the Rio de Janeiro State Industrial Development Company (CODIN), linked to the Economic Development Secretariat, for approximately R$ 10 million and invest R$ 40 million in infrastructure, in addition to providing R$ 26 million to the state, as a grant. The investment will be made over four years, with R$ 10 million invested each year. The notice was prepared in partnership between CODIN and the Secretariats for Economic Development and the Office of the President’s Chief of Staff.

According to the president of CODIN, Fábio Galvão, the modeling done by the state of Rio de Janeiro will be a reference for the rest of the country, since public data from the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) on consortium urban operations were used, in addition to the revenues of the Ceará EPZ. “The net annual operating revenue of the Ceará EPZ is R$ 26 million on average. This is our parameter for the minimum offer in the public selection. As our public notice is for 20 years, we have established a fixed grant amount, which is 5% of R$ 520 million. But we also defined a variable amount of 5% of operating revenue which will serve to update the counterpart. All these criteria were established based on economic studies”, explains Galvão.

The EPZs are free-foreign-trade areas designed for the installation of companies producing export products. Companies that set up in EPZs have access to specific tax, foreign exchange, and administrative treatments defined by the National Council for Export Processing Zones (CEPZ).

Sharing is caring!