In the final stretch of inaugurations before the start of the prohibition period due to the electoral law, President Dilma Rousseff opened space on the agenda to deliver excerpts from at least two emblematic works of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC). After visiting the transposition of the São Francisco River last week, she intends to inaugurate on Thursday 855 km of the North-South Railroad, connecting Palmas (TO) to Anápolis (GO).
The line will be delivered 27 years after the issuance of the first environmental license for its construction. In Dilma's government alone, three years of delay in inauguration can be accounted for.
In the rush before the party, workers take turns 24 hours a day to get everything ready. And, although the line is already installed, there will still be a complement missing: another 800 meters that will connect, in Anápolis, the North-South with the Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica (FCA).
The government still faces another problem in the construction of railroads: the lack of tracks. On Friday, the Minister of Transport, César Borges, left for China. He will, alongside the president of the BNDES, Luciano Coutinho, “sell” the Brazilian railroads to investors. But he set aside time in his schedule to charge the supplier, Pangang, for delivering the goods. In the best case scenario, the material will start to arrive in three months. It was expected by the end of 2013.
Requirements. Pangang was hired as it was the only bidder in Valec's third auction to buy rails. The two previous attempts, suspended due to signs of irregularity and doubts about the quality of the material, were won by the same Pangang. In the third attempt, the government demanded improvement in the product and additional financial guarantees, but it still faces difficulties.
This problem does not affect the section to be inaugurated by Dilma, but it does affect the continuation of the North-South, which runs from Goiás to the west of São Paulo, called the southern extension of the line. The government's plans are to inaugurate this stretch, between Ouro Verde (GO) and Estrela d'Oeste (SP), at the end of 2015. According to Valec's December 2013 balance sheet, 50% of the work has been completed.
Loan. Due to lack of material, Valec considered borrowing tracks from the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Dnit) – which administers federal highways, but also has some sections of railway line under its responsibility. But, for the time being, he is working with the material left over from the Palmas-Anápolis stretch.
When the line is operational, the ports of Santos (SP) and Itaqui (MA) will be connected to each other by a wide gauge railroad, faster and with greater capacity, suitable for cargo. "Not that the goods will travel from one port to another, but there will be options in the North and South for the producer to choose the best way out", explained the Minister of Transport, César Borges.
Along the railroad, there is production of grains, bran and ores. The lack of complementary works, such as yards to transfer cargo from trucks to trains, will still prevent a more intensive use of the lines next year, according to the president of the National Association of Railway Transporters (ANTF), Rodrigo Vilaça. But, he believes, the amount of grains and bran in wagons will almost double in six years, going from the current 14% of production to 32%.
Source: The State of S. Paulo
