State Deputy Antonio Donato (PT-SP) filed complaints with the TCE (State Court of Accounts) and the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office against the payment of 2 billion reais to the state’s highway concessionaires for the economic-financial rebalancing of contracts due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The claim was presented against Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) and the board of directors of Artesp (São Paulo State Transport Agency). In the text, he cites the deliberation of the regulatory agency relating to the rebalancing of contracts and specifies that the value corresponds to approximately 15% of the direct investment capacity planned for the State in 2026.
“The decision, taken quickly in December, raises serious concerns about its legality and legitimacy,” the parliamentarian writes in the document.
He also speaks of a lack of transparency, “since the minutes and deliberations of the last meeting on the 15th are not published on the Artesp website, as well as the documents with the calculations of the actual financial loss due to the reduction in traffic”.
“It is not even known whether cost reductions resulting from the reduction in traffic, such as maintenance costs, among others, were deducted from the calculations,” continues the parliamentarian.
Donato also affirms that the compensation resulting from the economic-financial rebalancing due to the reduction in revenue due to the reduction in traffic during the pandemic period would be “a type of revenue exemption that has not even been submitted to the examination of the Legislature, which, in theory, would violate the system of checks and balances, distorting the state budget which is subject to the control of the Legislative Power, a power granted by popular will.”
Contacted, the Government of São Paulo informed that the economic-financial rebalancing of concession contracts affected by the Covid-19 pandemic is provided for in the legislation and contractual clauses and “is a regulatory instrument intended to ensure the continuity and adequate provision of public services to the population”.
The note indicates that the impact assessment is carried out by Artesp and that the methodology is deliberated during the meetings of the agency’s Board of Directors, with acts published in the Official Journal, “guaranteeing transparency and broad access to information”.
“Based on this regulation, the impacts are analyzed individually in each contract, taking into account the specificities of each concession,” he continues. According to the SP government, similar procedures have been adopted by other regulatory agencies in the country, such as ANTT (National Land Transport Agency).
“The recognition of the imbalance by Artesp does not imply, in itself, an automatic definition of the form of the recomposition,” he says. “The rebalancing arrangements are formalized by the regulatory agency, according to the instruments provided for in the contract and with the monitoring of control bodies.”
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