Posted on March 13, 2024
Brazil’s Santos port is planning to invest 21.3bn reais (US$4.2bn) in 2024-28.
Of the total, 12.6bn reais will be made via public investments and PPP contracts, while the remainder will come from private sector companies that operate at the country’s busiest port, the Santos port authority said in a release
“Logistical investments, such as those projected for Santos port, require a significant amount of public investment to gain traction. These are investments in some very challenging projects, but with government participation, we have a great chance of moving forward,” Edson Ogawa, the head of the project finance area at Banco Santander Brasil, told BNamericas.
The biggest project in investment terms is the construction of a tunnel connecting the cities of Santos and Guarujá, demanding an estimated 6bn reais. The project is likely to be made via a PPP contract with the joint participation of the federal government and São Paulo state.
The participation of both governments will be key for the tunnel project due to its complexity, said Ogawa.
The immersed tunnel will have an extension of 860m at a depth of 21m and is expected to benefit over 5mn people in the region.
OTHER PROJECTS
Other major projects for Santos port are building a passenger terminal with an investment of 1.4bn reais and an internal railway by investing 1bn reais. The railway will increase annual freight transport capacity to 115Mt from 50Mt.
The port authority will also increase the depth of the navigation channel from 15m to 16m, investing 324mn reais in a five-year dredging project.
To increase the depth to 17m, the federal government is preparing a 20-year PPP contract with an estimated investment of 6.5bn reais.
The port’s 21 private sector-operated terminals are expected to invest a combined 8.68bn reais in different projects.
