Brazil $2.7B Transit Project Held Up By Corruption Probe Resumes
Work is resuming on a $2.7-billion, 15.3-kilometer transit project in São Paulo, Brazil after a four-year delay. Line 6 of the city's Metro had stalled due to Brazil’s “car wash” corruption scandal, preventing the original contractors in a Spanish-led public-private partnership (P3) from raising required financing.
Led by Spain’s Acciona Infraestutura S.A, the new consortium Concessionária Linha Universidade S.A. has replaced the original Move São Paulo (MSP) team. It was controlled by contractors Grupo Queiroz Galvão, Odebrecht Transport and UTC Engenharia.
MSP secured the 25-year P3 award in 2013 and aimed to complete construction this year, according to project owner Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos.
But the Federal Police of Brazil in 2014 began a vast money-laundering investigation that has implicated scores of public and private-sector officials, including those rom Odebrecht.
The Acciona team now plans to open the 15-station line in five years and operate and maintain it for another 19 years. According to Acciona, the project is its larges P3r and also the current largest in Latin America.
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