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BRASILIA, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's government announced Tuesday that 55 infrastructure concessions will be offered to the private sector, in an important trial balloon of the country's future economic potential.
The new concessions will include both new projects and the renovation of existing concessions, across highways, railways, port terminals and energy transmission lines, among other sectors.
At a government meeting on investments, President Michel Temer announced that the new projects would represent 45 billion U.S. dollars in new investments for energy, transport and sanitation, while creating 200,000 new direct and indirect jobs.
"We must do this as our greatest goal is precisely the fight against unemployment," said the president.
During the meeting, the Ministry of Mines and Energy presented a proposal for 35 lots of new energy transmission lines across 17 states, with a total investment cost of 12.8 billion U.S. dollars.
The Ministry of Transport also detailed the concession projects for highways, railways and ports.
In a statement issued after the meeting, the secretary-general of the presidency, Moreira Franco, said that the program would allow potential investors to be certain about the projects.
"Individuals and companies must know what is going to happen and, above all, to feel secure that the rules will be respected in the future," he explained.
In September 2016, the government already presented 35 public-private projects, for airports, ports, highways, railways, oil and gas, mining, energy and sanitation.
Since then, three contracts have been signed alongside seven concession and leasing agreements.
Major concessions are set to be assigned in the coming months. The management for the airports of Fortaleza, Florianopolis, Salvador and Porto Alegre will be tendered out on March 16, two terminals at the northern port of Santarem will be assigned on March 23 and the wheat terminal of the port of Rio de Janeiro will be tendered out on April 20.
