Skip to main content

Brazil’s road budget bubble bursting?

A shortage of funds could affects Brazil's road infrastructure plans. The country’s national department of transport infrastructure, Dnit, may have to halt activities in 2016 due to a lack of funds. Dnit manages the maintenance of existing roads in Brazil but has already had to suspend road paving and expansion works throughout the country due to a lack of finances. Unless further funds are found, Dnit will only be able to finance projects until August 2016. Dnit saw its budget for 2016 set at US$1.76 billi
March 30, 2016 Read time: 1 min
A shortage of funds could affects Brazil's road infrastructure plans. The country’s national department of transport infrastructure, Dnit, may have to halt activities in 2016 due to a lack of funds. Dnit manages the maintenance of existing roads in Brazil but has already had to suspend road paving and expansion works throughout the country due to a lack of finances. Unless further funds are found, Dnit will only be able to finance projects until August 2016. Dnit saw its budget for 2016 set at US$1.76 billion, the same as in 2015, to cover maintenance and work on some 55,000km of roads. However, 40% of this sum went to pay off debts accumulated over previous years. The budget was further limited by the imposition of priority projects in a number of cities, which cost a further $406.15 million.

Related Content

  • Investing in East Africa's road sector to boost economic development
    April 14, 2020
    Investments in East Africa’s road sector are helping drive economic development as well as political stability
  • Brazil: contractors fear more layoffs as DNIT fails to pay up
    November 25, 2014
    The head of Brazil’s association of road constructors has warned of more layoffs unless the National Department of Infrastructure and Transport (DNIT) starts paying its contractors. Jose Alberto Pereira Ribeiro, president of ANEOR – National Association of Road Works - said companies already have been forced to lay off around 1,700 workers in light of non-payment by the government. Another 950 employees are on forced holidays. Ribeiro claimed DNIT failed to meet its financial obligations for September
  • Sourcing road financing for East Africa’s network expansion
    December 4, 2015
    East Africa’s ambitious road expansion programme is seeing the network expand significantly – Shem Oirere writes The East Africa countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda have announced ambitious road sector expansion plans in the 2015/16 financial year. This is despite their national budgets being weighed down by huge deficits and persisting lack of capacity to spend resources allocated to the sector in previous years. With the huge budget deficits, the countries will have to look for alternati
  • New US$200 million ring road to be built in Belarus capital Minsk
    May 23, 2014
    Minsk is to benefit from a new ring road that will cut city congestion - Eugene Gerden reports The government of Belarus is investing more than US$200 million in the building of a new ring road around the country’s capital Minsk, in accordance with a government decree. Implementation of the project is taking place as part of the existing large-scale state road building programme in the country until 2017, with the total cost estimated at US$5 billion. The new road will measure some 85km long and will feat