Friday, December 7, 2012

Brazil launches $26B fund-raising campaign to bolster infrastructure for seaports

Brazilian government officials announced Thursday a $26 billion public-private fund raising campaign to modernize its seaports, which are notoriously slow.

President Dilma Rousseff said she was depending on an "explosion" of private investment to bolster an undisclosed amount of government funds. The $26-billion drive would address Brazil's crumbling infrastructure, including highways, bridges, and the electrical grid.

"The problems that we have with roads, railways and ports are the things that create our infamous 'Brazil cost' which is probably the main thing keeping Brazil from realizing its economic potential," said Alvaro de Oliveira Jr., head of operations for Itaoca Terminal Maritimo, which is building a port to service offshore oil development.

According to officials, Brazil's 34 major ports are not ready to deal with a "potential quadrupling" of port traffic to nearly a billion metric tons a year by 2030. Ports in Brazil's southeast are working at near 100 percent capacity and those in the rest of the country are expected to be at full capacity by 2016.

Brazil is the largest global exporter of coffee, sugar, beef, orange juice and ethanol, and the second largest exporter of soybeans and iron ore. Its oil industry, could make Brazil one of the top four producers in the world by 2020.

For more of the Reuters article: reuters.com

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