São Paulo Metro reassesses billion-real contract for Line 19–Celeste

The company that operates the São Paulo metro has decided to reopen the evaluation process for a contract of approximately 5 billion (bn) reais (US$960 million) for the construction of a section of Line 19–Celeste.

Last year, the company announced the results of the tender for three lots that involved preparing the detailed design and carrying out the civil works for 17.6 kilometers of tracks, 15 stations and a maintenance yard.

On that occasion, the consortium led by PowerChina, which also includes Mendes Júnior and Highland Build Co., won the bid for lot 1, which includes the construction of 5.7km of tunnels, five stations and six ventilation shafts (VSEs), between Bosque Maia and Itapegica.

The group submitted a proposal of 4.98 billion reais for carrying out the works, an amount lower than that offered by competitors such as Acciona, Agis Construção, Odebrecht and Andrade Gutierrez Construções.

However, the consortium formed by Agis-Ohla-Cetenco, which had submitted a bid of 5 billion reais, requested a review of the bidding result, claiming that the companies in the winning consortium did not meet the technical experience requirements set out in the tender notice.

The São Paulo subway accepted the challenge and decided to reevaluate the proposals from the other companies participating in the bidding process.

In addition to the offers from the Yellow River consortium and the Agis-Ohla-Cetenco consortium, Odebrecht submitted a bid of 5.24bn reais, Andrade Gutierrez offered 5.27bn reais, and Acciona proposed 5.87bn reais for carrying out the works of lot 1.

The other two lots originally offered were awarded to the Via Celeste consortium, formed by the companies Odebrecht, Álya, and Ghella.

Freight railway

Meanwhile, in the freight railway segment, the Ministry of Transport updated the progress of the construction project for the Transnordestina railway.

“With an investment of 11.3bn reais, the works of phase one are already 80% complete: 727 kilometers of the main line have been finished, while another 326 kilometers remain under construction,” the ministry said in a statement.

Transnordestina is the main freight railway under construction in the Northeast, marked by successive advances and stoppages. Phase one of the works, which totals 1,209km and will connect Eliseu Martins to the port of Pecém, is expected to be completed in 2027. This stage is being carried out by the company Transnordestina Logística S.A.

(The original version of this content was written in Portuguese)