Gustavo Ferrari

BRAZIL's National Bank for Social and Economic Development (BNDES) has announced that it will provide loans totalling Reais 70.5m ($US 21.9m) to finance 19 diesel locomotives ordered by freight operators VLI and Rumo Logistics from GE Transportation.

THE governor of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, Mr Luiz Fernando Pezão, has confirmed an election pledge to build the new Line 3 linking Niterói with São Gonçalo as a metro rather than a bus rapid transit line.

THE governor of the Brazilian state of São Paulo, Mr Geraldo Alckmin, signed a 20-year public-private partnership concession with BR Mobilidade Baixada Santista consortium on June 23 to operate the new light rail line and buses in Santos.

PRESIDENT Dilma Rousseff announced ambitious plans on June 9 to revive investment in Brazil's inadequate transport infrastructure in an attempt to stop the country's slide into recession. The plan includes a new funding model aimed at addressing the previous failed concession strategy.

BRAZILIAN intermodal operator Brado Logistics is planning a Reais 150m ($US 46.8m) investment to expand its operations to Brazil's north-south railway corridor, which is owned by Vale.

A group of international investors has expressed an interest in financing a Reais 16bn ($US 5.1bn) port and rail project to create an export channel for minerals and agricultural products from the northern Brazillian state of Pará to the coastal city of Colares.

THE government of the Brazilian state of Bahia has authorised a Reais 800m ($US 314m) financial package for the 5.5km extension of Salvador metro Line 1 from Pirajá and Águas Claras/Cajazeiras.

THE government of the Brazilian state of Ceará says it will launch a new tender on December 10 for a contract to complete construction of the Reais 265.5m ($US 102.7m) Parangaba – Mururipe LRT line in Fortaleza.

HYUNDAI-ROTEM, Korea, is to establish a rolling stock assembly plant in Brazil under an agreement with the government of the state of São Paulo, which was signed at Bandeirantes Palace on November 12 in the presence of the state's recently re-elected governor Mr Geraldo Alckmin.

BRAZIL's minister of transport Mr Cesar Borges has announced that tender documents will be issued in August for the PPP concession to build and maintain the 901km line from Lucas do Rio Verde, in Mato Grosso state to Campinorte in Goiás, which will be operated on an open-access basis.