The State of Bahia Government has installed, in January 7, 2014, a public consultation proceeding involving the draft request for proposal and adhesion agreement for the construction, operation and exploitation of the Porto Sul, located in the city of Ilhéus.
The Porto Sul project involves a private port for movement and/or storage of grain, general and container cargo, which shall be formed by a private port terminal (Terminal de Uso Privado – TUP), a logistics support zone (Zona de Apoio Logístico – ZAL) and an Iron Ore Terminal to be operated by Bahia Mineração S.A. (BAMIN).
The future public procurement proceeding will select a Private Shareholder which, along with the State of Bahia or a selected State public entity, will set up a Specific Purpose Company (SPC) to operate Porto Sul. Although the specific stock participation percentage has not been defined yet, the State Government shall be the minority shareholder and the draft bid rules prohibit any and all initiatives aiming at privatizing the SPE.
The process is a development of the request for proposals carried out by the National Agency for Waterway Transportation (ANTAQ) in order to identify potential interested parties to explore a port terminal in the geographic region of the city of Ilhéus, in the State of Bahia, within the new regulatory framework of the port sector. The State of Bahia and Bamin formalized their interest in developing the Project and have been elected by ANTAQ to do so.
As a result of the future public procurement proceeding, the SPE shall substitute the State of Bahia as part of the Adhesion Contract to be entered with the Port Secretariat – SEP and having ANTAQ as the intervening party, in order to consolidate the authorization for the operation of Porto Sul.
Companies which are not established in Brazil cannot participate in the public procurement proceeding, in consortium or in an isolated manner.
The Port shall be built in the north shore of Ilhéus, between the Aritaguá and Sambaituba regions, and has already had its preliminary environmental license issued by the Federal Environmental Agency – Ibama.
The goal of the public consultation process is to collect contributions from the companies interested in participating in the future public procurement to the draft bid documents. The term for submitting contributions within the scope of the public consultation process expires in March 8, 2014.
To have access to the entire set of draft bid documents and environmental studies, please click here.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.