The Port of Santos’ underwater tunnel studies will take place soon

On April 1st, the decree authorizing the start of the Port of Santos undersea tunnel studies under the Federal Government’s Investment Partnership Program (PPI in Portuguese) was published in the Official Federal Gazette. The implementation and management of the dry connection between Santos and Guarujá (SP) is part of the port’s privatization initiative, which will occur this year.

In the soon-to-be-contracted studies, tariffs, legal modelling, engineering assessment, demand and traffic projection, social-environmental issues, and economic-financial feasibility will all be carefully analyzed.

Following steps

The studies’ findings will be evaluated by the Ministry of Infrastructure and then submitted to public scrutiny when the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq) hold a port lease public hearing to gather contributions and clarify any pending questions.

Then, the documents will be adjusted accordingly and submitted for analysis by the Federal Audit Court (TCU). Upon approval, the papers will go through the assessment of the PPI council and, if approved, will be forwarded to the regulatory agency to be used for the preparation of the draft notice and concession contract.

Undersea tunnel

The population has been demanding a dry connection between the municipalities of Santos and Guarujá for a long time. Building a tunnel was preferred over a bridge because it has the most negligible impact on the region’s infrastructure and port operations.

During the development of the Port of Santos privatization studies, it was agreed to include the duty to pay for the construction of the tunnel as part of the concession contract, which is anticipated to cost R$ 3 billion.

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