Companies lack capital for railroad projects
The Bolsonaro administration has celebrated a wave of multi-billion investments in railroads since the creation of a new legal framework for the sector, but part of the projects are led by companies with share capital apparently incompatible with the size of the announced projects.A research carried out by Valor suggests that at least five large projects already authorized or under analysis by the Ministry of Infrastructure - with 3,200 kilometers in length and almost R$50 billion in promised investments - were registered by companies with less than R$1 million in capital.One is Macro Desenvolvimento Ltda., founded in November 2020, which has signed contracts for two new railroad sections: one linking Presidente Kennedy (Espírito Santo) to Sete Lagoas (Minas Gerais) and other linking Sete Lagoas to Anápolis (Goiás). Together, they total 1,326 kilometers and are expected to cost R$29.6 billion, but the company has equity inversely proportional to the boldness of the project: only R$10,000.Regardless of the apparent contradiction in values, the estimates of multi-billion investments around the new railroads have been used in official events and on social media to expand the list of achievements of President Jair Bolsonaro, who will run for reelection in October.These projects are based on Law 14.273, passed by Congress in December last year and signed into law by Mr. Bolsonaro, which allows new railroads under the authorization regime.Under this model, investors are exempted from entering an auction and competing for a public concession. At their own risk, they can simply present a project to the government, which signs an "adhesion contract" with the entrepreneur. The compatibility between the equity and the size of the project is not among the preconditions.According to market executives interviewed by Valor, who prefer not to be named, this has led to the proliferation of the so-called "paper railroads." In practice, they are just a kind of title given by the government - the concession - which gives companies the right to build a certain railroad. Without enough capital to make the authorized project viable, they run after investors - usually abroad - who are willing to inject funds and assume the risk.Given the uncertainties, the chances of "mortality" increase for a good part of the projects authorized or about to be authorized. Despite this, the government boasts that the new legislation is transforming the sector. The law was preceded...
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