Brazil Seeks International Bids for Port Project, Rousseff Says

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

29 Apr 2008

Brazil will seek bids from foreign companies for a project to dredge 12 ports, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's chief of staff said. Brazil will auction five-year contracts between July and January, Chief of Staff Dilma Rousseff said today in a Bloomberg Television interview in Washington. Companies from Korea, Japan, Belgium and Holland may participate in the auctions, which will be open to foreign bidders for the first time, she said.
``It is important to have this international presence to increase the quality and bring down the cost,'' said Rousseff, who was in Washington after visits to Korea and Japan in the past week.
Brazil -- the world's biggest exporter of iron ore, ethanol, sugar and coffee -- is expanding its ports as demand for its commodities surges. Ports Minister Pedro Brito said in an interview on April 18 that the country may invest 9 billion reais ($5.4 billion) to double the size of the largest port to 230 million metric tons a year by 2014.
The dredging project will increase the depth at ports to accommodate bigger container ships.
High-Speed Train
Brazil also aims to finish building a $9 billion high-speed train between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo by 2014, when the Latin American country is set to host the World Cup soccer championship, Rousseff said today.
Project viability studies will be ready in September or October, and the first auction of concessions for the railway will be held in the first quarter of 2009, she said. In addition to Brazil's national development bank, known as BNDES, financing for the project may come from the European Investment Bank or institutions in Korea and Japan.
Dilma also said the recent acquisition of Brasil Telecom Participacoes SA by Telemar Participacoes SA should lead to lower phone rates by increasing the availability of new technologies, such as Voice Over Internet Protocol.
Telemar agreed April 25 to buy the parent of Brasil Telecom for 5.86 billion reais, creating a carrier that controls almost two-thirds of the country's land lines.
Rousseff is set to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush tomorrow and said they will discuss tariffs on goods traded by the two countries.

Source: Bloomberg