Posted on November 27, 2023
The operator of Brazil’s biggest port, SPA in the city of Santos, has announced plans to invest 7bn reais (US$1.43bn) in infrastructure projects next year as it looks set to assume more power.
The most important initiatives lined up by Santos Port Authority include dredging the main channel, dredging berths between warehouses 12A and 23, upgrading the Barnabé island pier, making improvements to road access to the port, installing the VTMIS image monitoring system and advancing with the construction of the Santos-Guarujá tunnel.
An SPA spokesperson told BNamericas that the federal government will also publish a decree in the coming days that will give the company more authority to prepare tenders, supervise contracts and have more decision-making power in investment plans, among other changes.
The previous administration, under president Jair Bolsonaro, planned to privatize the port and then reduced the influence of SPA, transferring some of its powers to the federal government.
However, under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, those plans have been abandoned, even though the governor of São Paulo state, Tarcisio de Freitas, who was national infrastructure minister during the Bolsonaro administration, has tried to convince Lula of the advantages of selling the port to the private sector.
