Excerpts from the Journal of Commerce:
After more than 18 months of delays, the much heralded first phase of Brazil’s more than Reais 10 billion ($3.36 billion) port concession program received the go-ahead to proceed from the Tribunal de Contas da Uniao.
The TCU, a Brasilia-based watchdog over national and international concession processes, in the last year has six times announced that it would wrap up its investigations and allow the original plan to proceed with a number of amendments,, only to change its mind and continue investigating. Many claim the prevarications were politically inspired while others have declared that the original tender document was so poorly drafted and politically biased itself that a long, drawn-out inquiry was inevitable.
With the green light given by the TCU, the process will open up for the awarding of concessions to 26 terminals in Santos and Para.