The MPSP (Public Ministry of São Paulo) filed a public civil action to suspend the concession contract of Nova Raposo, a project to expand and operate the Raposo Tavares highway and the sections of Castello Branco and Régis Bittencourt.
The housing and planning office says the state government followed through on the offer despite incomplete environmental studies, failures in popular participation and “uncredible” road traffic data.
When contacted, the management of Tarcísio and Ecovias Raposo Castello stated that they had not yet been informed of the action. The concessionaire says it complies with “all legal and contractual requirements established by the São Paulo State Government and Artesp” and maintains a dialogue with the relevant authorities, including the Public Ministry.
The contract, signed in March between the State and Ecovia Raposo-Castelo, provides for 30 years of concession and investments of 8 billion reais. The notice was made public in July 2024 and the auction, won by the dealer, took place in November of the same year.
According to the action, the two meetings promoted by the government to discuss the project — a hearing in the capital and another in Vargem Grande Paulista — were “purely formal,” with PowerPoint presentations from Artesp (São Paulo State Transport Agency) and speeches from the authorities, without prior access to the technical content of the work.
The Prosecutor’s Office claims that the process has turned into a “media exhibition”, without effective debate with the inhabitants of the ten municipalities concerned.
The MPSP claims that only 1,879 contributions were recorded during the 30 days of public consultation, a number considered insignificant given the scale of the project. A petition with more than 33,000 signatures, attached to the file, shows the mobilization of those who live along Raposo Tavares and fear expropriations, environmental impacts and worsening traffic.
The technical opinion of Caex, an auxiliary body of the MPSP, reinforces the criticisms formulated by “Nova Raposo, NO!” movement. The document, presented in preview by the chronicle in October, underlines that approximately 395 lots must be expropriated – without detailing the population concerned – and that the traffic studies carried out by the State include “impossible” counts, such as the passage of 6 million vehicles in 24 hours in a single station.
São Paulo’s total automobile fleet is approximately 33 million. Therefore, the count would imply that almost 20% of all vehicles in the state would have passed through this single point in a single day.
Even with the planned work, the analysis indicates that SP-270 will continue to be overcrowded for the duration of the concession, operating at the most critical E and F service levels, which indicate near-blocked flow.
The study also cites impacts on permanent conservation areas, watershed areas, indigenous lands and working-class neighborhoods in the capital, which could be targets for resettlement without defined planning.
The government of Tarcísio de Freitas, says the MPSP, “accelerated the tender procedure in the blink of an eye” without waiting for the final opinion of Cetesb. For the prosecution, continuing the execution of the contract before the end of the environmental studies is a “reckless act” and could cause irreversible damage.
with DIEGO ALEJANDRO, KARINA MATIAS and VICTORIA CÓCOLO
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