BRAZIL: The Ministry of Transport has issued a directive to Infra SA to accelerate the licensing process for strategic rail projects. Signed by the National Secretariat for Rail Transport and the Secretariat of Sustainability, this provides for the federal government to take over the environmental licensing process.
Until now, environmental licensing has not been possible until after a concession contract has been signed by a concessionaire. The aim is to ensure more legal certainty and hence to accelerate the approval process for new railway projects. The government also hopes that by mitigating risks in this way, the rail sector will become more attractive to private investors.
‘The current model drives away investors because of the delay and complexity of the procedures’, said National Secretary for Rail Transport Leonardo Ribeiro. ‘Our goal is to simplify and make the process more transparent to ensure the attractiveness and development of the railway sector.’
Projects likely to benefit from the move include the FICO and FIOL ‘integration railways’, Ferrogrão and the EF118 scheme for a 580 km rail link running inland from the Atlantic coast to São João da Barra and Nova Iguaçu, northwest of Rio de Janeiro.
