After Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) authorized the payment of an economic-financial rebalancing of up to 2 billion reais to 13 highway concessionaires operating in São Paulo, State Deputy Antonio Donato (PT) presented representations to the State Audit Court (TCE) and the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office to question this decision. According to the dealers, the amounts come from revenue losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The recognition was made official this month by the São Paulo State Transportation Agency (Artesp), which considers the pandemic an extraordinary event likely to impact concessionaire revenues between March 2020 and December 2022. The decision was signed by the agency’s CEO, André Isper Rodrigues Barnabé, and directors Diego Albert Zanatto, Fernanda Esbízaro Rodrigues Rudnik and Raquel França Carneiro.
Among the requests already analyzed, Autoban, responsible for the Anhanguera-Bandeirantes system, which serves the Campinas region, saw a recognized value of R$786.2 million. The Motiva group (formerly CCR, which manages, among others, Castello Branco and Raposo Tavares) had recorded approximately BRL 1.4 billion, an amount which includes the following contracts: BRL 228.1 million for ViaOeste, BRL 203.3 million for SPVias, BRL 209.4 million for Renovias and BRL 53.6 million for Rodoanel Oeste.
Other concessionaires also saw amounts recognized by the regulatory agency, including EcoPistas, with BRL 109 million; Rota das Bandeiras, with 173 million reais; and Ecovias (Imigrantes), with 137 million reais. Five other dealers are expected to have values below 50 million reais each, whose applications are still awaiting public details.
The representation was presented by Donato against Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) and the Artesp board of directors. In the document, the parliamentarian specifies that the recognized amount is equivalent, according to his calculations, to approximately 15% of the direct investment capacity planned for the State in 2026.
“The measure raises serious concerns about its legality and legitimacy,” the MP wrote. He also highlights the lack of transparency in the process, pointing out that the minutes and deliberations of the Artesp meeting that supported the decision have not yet been published, as well as the technical studies and spreadsheets that would detail the actual revenue losses attributed to the drop in traffic.
“It is not even clear whether cost reductions resulting from reduced vehicle flow, such as maintenance expenses, were deducted from the calculations,” he said.
The parliamentarian also maintains that the contractual recomposition constitutes, in practice, a waiver of revenue which should have been submitted to the Legislative Assembly for examination. The State Government informed that the economic-financial rebalancing is provided for in the legislation and in the contractual clauses of the concessions, and declared that it is a “regulatory instrument designed to ensure the continuity and adequate provision of public services to the population”.
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