Bolsonaro promises that in 2 years the port of Itaqui, in Maranhão will be connected by rail to the Port of Santos!

The President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, said this Sunday, July 21, through social networks to guarantee that, within a period of two years, he will connect, by rail, the Port of Itaqui in Maranhão to the Port of Santos in São Paulo.

Bolsonaro assured that he will work for the Northeast. “In 4 years we will do a lot for Brazil and the until then forgotten Northeast, despite the media and some governors”. Said the president.

The president is referring to the concession of a section of the North-South railroad, which connects Porto Nacional, in Tocantins, to Estrela d'Oeste, in São Paulo.

The contract is estimated at R$ 2,8 billion and will be signed later this month and the northbound section will start operating immediately.

The government's expectation is that by 2021 the section of the railway that connects the two ports will be fully operational in both directions.

Government to resume railway concessions

The Minister of Infrastructure, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, stated, on January 19, through a video posted on his Twitter profile, that the government will bid for three railroads by the end of next year.

The program, said Freitas, is “ambitious, but possible”. The first stretch will connect Porto Nacional, in Tocantins, to Estrela D'Oeste, in São Paulo, making a connection between the ports of Itaqui (MA) and Santos (SP).

According to the minister, the new railway concession program is aimed at reducing the cost of freight, removing trucks from the highways, reducing the Brazil Cost and making cargo transport more efficient. “With these actions, the participation of the rail mode in the transport matrix should double by 2025. It should go from the current 15% to 29% to 30% in eight years”, said Gomes de Freitas in the video, which was shared by President Jair Bolsonaro on his official Twitter profile.

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