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Billion-dollar project between Santos and Guarujá advances amid termination of million-dollar contract, MPF investigation, and dispute won by foreign company, while authorities reorganize the technical structure of one of the most anticipated infrastructure works in the Baixada Santista.
The Santos Port Authority terminated the R$ 72.8 million contract signed with the Foundation for Technological Development of Engineering, responsible for the technical advisory linked to the Santos-Guarujá Tunnel.
Meanwhile, the billion-dollar project continues after the auction won by the Portuguese company Mota-Engil, chosen to carry out one of the most significant infrastructure works in the Baixada Santista.
With an estimated investment of R$ 6.8 billion, the project foresees the construction of the first immersed tunnel in Brazil and Latin America, in a direct connection between Santos and Guarujá.
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The work will be executed through a partnership between the federal government and the government of São Paulo, with an expected impact on regional mobility and operations linked to the Port of Santos.
The termination was formalized by a bilateral agreement signed on June 17, 2026 and published in the Official Gazette of the Union on Friday (19), after a change in the project’s model.
According to APS, the termination occurred amicably because the new project structure made the continuation of the services contracted with the engineering-related foundation unnecessary.
Signed in February 2025 without bidding, the contract provided for specialized support in monitoring, managing, and controlling the project’s development, with an execution period of 40 months.
The reported amount for the contract was R$ 72,812,859.24, a figure that became part of the investigation opened by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding the agreement.
Santos-Guarujá Tunnel Contract came under MPF scrutiny
The contract came under investigation by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, which opened a civil inquiry to investigate the legality of the bidding waiver, pricing, and project management.
Before the formal termination, the agreement had already been suspended since June 2025, during which time there was no execution of services or payments to the Foundation for Technological Development of Engineering.
According to the Port Authority of Santos, there was no work order, execution of work, or any payment to FDTE, which avoided disbursements related to the terminated contract.
No compensations, fines, or other financial obligations resulting from the contract termination were foreseen, as informed by the state company when discussing the amicable termination.
Even after the end of the contract, APS stated that it will continue to monitor the development of the tunnel, especially regarding the effects on port infrastructure and operations carried out in the region.
If necessary, the public company may consider hiring specialized technical support in the future, but without maintaining the structure planned in the agreement terminated with FDTE.
The change results from the reorganization of the project’s model, which began to focus the project’s structuring on another technical and administrative arrangement.
In this new design, the hiring of the Economic Research Institute Foundation by the São Paulo government rendered the continuation of the contract signed by APS with FDTE purposeless.
Tunnel auction won by Mota-Engil
Held on September 5, 2025, the Santos-Guarujá Tunnel auction took place at the B3 headquarters in São Paulo and determined the company responsible for the construction.
The Portuguese company Mota-Engil won the bid and was tasked with the construction and operation of the project, considered strategic for the connection between the two municipalities of Baixada Santista.
According to the Ministry of Ports and Airports, the project is part of the New PAC and will include participation of federal and state resources in the project’s composition.
The partnership between the Union and the São Paulo government was presented as a way to enable the dry connection between Santos and Guarujá, a long-standing demand in the region.
In the bidding process, the winning proposal was defined based on the best offer regarding the public authority’s counterpart to the project, within the structured model for the concession.
The total estimated investment is R$ 6.8 billion, a value referring to the entire project, not just an isolated private investment by the winning company.
According to the planned route, the tunnel is expected to connect the Outeirinhos and Macuco region in Santos to the Vicente de Carvalho neighborhood in Guarujá.
This connection is considered strategic because it affects both the urban mobility of Baixada Santista and the operation of the largest port in the country.
Termination does not interrupt the PPP of the immersed tunnel
The termination of the contract with FDTE does not indicate a halt to the main tunnel project, according to the available information on the progress of the public-private partnership.
At the center of the turnaround is the termination of a technical consultancy contracted by APS, later questioned by the Federal Public Ministry in a civil inquiry.
Even so, the case gained relevance for involving a multi-million dollar contract without bidding around one of the largest infrastructure projects in preparation in the country.
The MPF’s investigation focuses precisely on the legality and criteria used in the contracting, without secure information about recent updates to the procedure.
Linked to the technical engineering environment, FDTE had been chosen to support the Port Authority in monitoring the project before the change in the structuring model.
APS justified the termination by the alteration of the institutional design of the work, and not by irregular execution of services related to the terminated contract.
Without payment or formal start of work, according to the state company, the termination reduces the risk of immediate financial impact on public coffers.
The tunnel project remains associated with the attempt to reduce part of the dependency on ferry crossings and improve the connection between Santos and Guarujá.
As it is an immersed structure under the channel, the work draws public attention at each contractual stage, especially in the phases of modeling, supervision, and execution.
The combination of billion-dollar investment, international dispute, and investigated contract keeps the Santos-Guarujá Tunnel under heightened attention.
Besides the construction itself, the progress of the PPP will depend on transparency about contracts associated with the enterprise and supervision of decisions made throughout the project.
With the amicable termination and no payments, the episode closes an administrative front but preserves the debate on how technical contracts should be conducted in works of this scale.
Will public oversight be sufficient to ensure safety and transparency until the delivery of the tunnel?
