The National Infrastructure and Logistics Commission of the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil (CNA) met on Tuesday (22) to define the action plan, the priority guidelines and the progress of the entity’s demands for 2018. The meeting had the participation of federations of agriculture and livestock from 11 states and the Federal District. The president of the Commission and the Federation of Agriculture and Livestock of Paraíba (FAEPA), Mario Borba, participated by videoconference. In his speech, he defended the conclusion of the excerpts of the BR-020 in the Northeast to cheapen the transportation of corn, soybeans and cotton pie, inputs used in livestock farming in the region.
One of the topics addressed was the concession of highways. CNA consultant Luiz Antônio Fayet defended the end of the extensions and the realization of new bids after the end of the contracts of concession of the road network. “It is a proposal of the whole productive sector to have an improvement in the quality of the highways and a reduction in the toll tariffs,” he said. “When we do only the extension, the quality decreases and the tariffs are proportionally higher. We want a new standard and we are arguing with the government. We have positioned ourselves against extensions of contracts opting for declarations, because the experience shows the advantages for our economy “, he justified.
Fayet recalled that, in 2015, the Rio Niterói Bridge concession and the set of access works were declared. “The former concessionaire lost the bid because the winner proposed to invest the substantial resources established in the project and, even so, reduced the tariffs from R $ 5.20 to R $ 3.28, with a decrease of about 40% “. He also spoke about the potential of waterways, especially to drain the production of the states located in the corridor of the North Arc.
However, Fayet stressed the need for a management model that guarantees security for waterway transportation, due to the increase in crime, especially the traffic in arms, drugs and robberies. “Waterways must be used in favor of agribusiness logistics so that we become the world’s largest exporters of agriculture.” Another issue addressed was the transport of cargoes in containers. The consultant reported the interest of unions and entities to reduce the volume of cargo per unit, which can raise the cost of export logistics by about 20%. “It would be a great loss in competition with other countries in international trade.”
Fayet also said that other legislation should be reviewed, such as cabotage, navigation between ports in the same country. According to him, in 2013, freight from Paranaguá to Recife was as expensive as shipping to Shanghai, China, on the other side of the world.
Railways
Luis Baldez, chief executive of the National Association of Freight Transport Users (ANUT), outlined the country’s railways. Today, of the 30 thousand kilometers granted by concession contracts for 20 years, 18 thousand kilometers of mesh are abandoned or underutilized, due to the abandonment of the companies that won the bidding processes to use the stretches. As the contracts are for 30 years, the concessionaires still have another 10 years of contract. “The companies abandoned the sections, but they do not give back to the government and the mesh is plastered,” he explained.
The Commission’s technical adviser, Elisângela Lopes, spoke about the Agribusiness Paths project, which will identify the infrastructure and logistics works in the country considered most important for the production flow. In this way, she asked for the contribution of the federations to meet the state demands.