Skip to main content

Brazil’s budget cuts threaten the Santos-Guaruja immersed tunnel

August 18, 2015
Adjustments to Brazil's budget could pose a threat to the planned immersed tunnel between Santos and Guaruja in Sao Paulo state, local media reported.

Sao Paulo state had put the project out to tender and had verbal support from the national treasury to borrow up to US$2 billion to finance the project. However, because of the economic crisis, this support has not materialised.

The tunnel would by 1.7km long, carry six lanes of traffic and be at an estimated depth of 35m.

Out of $918 million needed for the tunnel, Brazil's national development bank BNDES had already approved $269 million while the state of Sao Paulo had committed $258 million, leaving a $373 million gap. Sao Paulo state has half the resources needed already but it will not go ahead with the project until all the funds are available, local media reported.

Out of five consortia that presented a commercial proposal, four are prequalified: ISG Interligacao Santos-Guaruja, made of 1339 Andrade Gutierrez, 3086 Daewoo and CR Almeida; Nova Travessia, made of Constran, Ing E Mantovani and Piacentini Tecenge do Brasil; Tunel Santos-Guaruja, made of 1305 Odebrecht, Queiroz Galvao, 1511 OAS and Strukton; Sigma, made of J Malucelli Construtora de Obras, Grandi Lavori and 7809 Salini Impregilo; and Construtor Tunel Santos-Guaruja, made of Camargo Correa, 2717 Ferrovial Agroman and Carioca Engenharia.

Sao Paulo’s state highway agency 2529 Dersa has produced a video of the proposed submerged tunnel.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Salini Impregilo morphs into Webuild
    May 19, 2020
    The name of a major player on the international construction scene has changed.
  • Delays ahead for Slovakia’s Visnove tunnel
    September 5, 2018
    Slovakia's transport ministry says the 7.5km Visnove tunnel near Zilina, part of the D1 motorway, will be delayed by two years to open in 2022. The recent announcement came as the ministry agreed to an extension to the construction permit held by Salini Impregilo for work on the twin-tube tunnel. The design-and-build contract worth about €410 million was assigned to the Salini Impregilo-led joint venture DUHA in 2014 by the National Highway Company NDS.
  • Strukton to build immersed tunnel in Antwerp
    March 10, 2021
    Strukton Immersion Projects was awarded the contract by COTU.
  • Budimex consortium win Poland’s Ostroda ringroad court case
    March 18, 2015
    A district court in the Polish town of Olsztyn has ruled in favour of a consortium of Budimex and Ferrovial Agroman which challenged the awarding of a ringroad contract to a rival. The ruling means that the Salini consortium’s winning bid for the construction of a ringroad around Ostroda is overturned on the basis that it was ineffectually low. This means that the contract will go to the Budimex consortium which proposed to build the road for around €223 million. Polish builder Budimex is the consortium's m