Skip to main content

Chinese investors eye Brazilian work, including federal highway BR-153

Chinese investors are reported to be negotiating a contract to work on a section of federal highway BR-153 that goes from Anapolis in the Brazilian state of Goias to Palmas,n in Tocantins. The road is part of the Transbrasiliana Highway. The section was originally awarded to Brazilian construction firm Galvao Engenharia in September 2014, but the company never started expansion works.
January 14, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Chinese investors are reported to be negotiating a contract to work on a section of federal highway BR-153 that goes from Anapolis in the Brazilian state of Goias to Palmas,n in Tocantins. The road is part of the Transbrasiliana Highway.

The section was originally awarded to Brazilian construction firm Galvao Engenharia in September 2014, but the company never started expansion works.

The concession contract stipulates that the concessionaire would have to invest US$670.62 million over the first five years, during which time all expansion work is to be done.

National land transport agency ANTT has set a deadline of 90 days for the situation to be resolved.

Chinese investors are also said to be interested in entering the tender for the Rodovia do Frango highway in Parana and Santa Catarina states.

State-owned China Railway Construction Company (CRCC) has already formed a partnership with Brazilian construction conglomerate Camargo Correa to tender for Ferrovia de Integracao do Centro-Oeste highway, which connects Campinorte in Goias and Lucas do Rio Verde in Mato Grosso. Since this tender has not yet moved forward, CRCC has also shown interest in the Rio-Vitoria highway.

Chinese companies have shown increased interest in Brazilian infrastructure contracts, including those in electricity generation and air transport, since May last year when president Dilma Rousseff met with Chinese prime minister Li Kiqiang.

Meanwhile, delays continue to plague transport infrastructure works in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state. The extension of the metro service, the

Refurbishment of roads and the widening of BR-381 federal road, as well as metro services, did not get much focus in this year’s federal budget, according to media reports. The refurbishment of roads in the region is set to receive only around $124,200 from the federal budget, but this accounts for just 1% of the total estimated cost. Also, there is no set date for widening works on the BR-381 road.

This year the federal government will cover only 30% of the cost of infrastructure projects.

Related Content

  • Brazilian roads benefit from upgrades with milling machines
    September 10, 2014
    Super-fine milling is a technique that has been used in Brazil to rehabilitate roads for the World Cup The rehabilitation work had to be carried out speedily and economically, while minimising traffic disruption. To meet these requirements, contractor Fremix Engenharia e Comércio has been using a Wirtgen W200 cold milling machine that is fitted with a super-fine milling drum.
  • Dhaka Elevated Expressway section opened
    September 19, 2023
    The Italian-Thai Development Corporation entered into a US$1.062 billion contract with China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) for building the elevated expressway.
  • Russia to commission new Moscow-St Petersburg highway by 2020
    June 20, 2017
    Final delivery of the final stretch for Russia’s key highway project looks set to be delayed – Eugene Gerden writes. I now looks as if Russia’s most ambitious project in the field of road building in recent years, the building of a new high-speed road link between Moscow and St Petersburg, the country’s largest cities, will not be complete in time. The project was set up by the Russian government and several private investors. According to initial state plans, building of the new road should have been compl
  • Learning from Russia's controversial road project
    February 9, 2012
    The International Road Federation (IRF), founded in 1948, is the only world forum advocating better and safer roads through better road design and construction bearing in mind the user. It is a unique institution that brings together members active in road infrastructure from both the private and public sectors. The IRF promotes roads that are safe, economically viable and ecologically friendly. The IRF believes that a sound road infrastructure brings prosperity, fights poverty, furthers education and gi