Rodonorte Toll Road

active

The project included the rehabilitation of the existing roads, construction of seven toll plazas, expansion of 260.1 km (construction of a second lane) and construction of 15.1 km of by-passes. The bidding process was competitive and the award criteria was the quantity of km of access highways to be rehabilitated by the sponsors. The concession was granted to Rodonorte Concessionaria de Rodovias Integradas SA (Rodonorte), and this concessionaire has been operating the road since December 1997. The concessionaire was controlled by a consortium led by CBPO, a subsidiary of Construtora Odebrecht SA, which was holding 75% of the project company's shares. The charging of tolls started in Jun 1998 after the concessionaire concluded the initial rehabilitation works (it invested around US$ 100 million in this phase). As of August 1998, the concession contract was under renegotiation. As the state government decided to reduce the toll rates, the concessionaire stopped its investment plans and only the rehabilitation works were implemented. The concessionaire also planned to cancel some construction works in order to adjust the investment requirements with the new estimated revenues. In 1998, 74.24% of the total capital of Rodonorte was transfered to Companhia de Concessoes Rodoviarias (CCR), a newly created holding company that would hold a number of toll-road concessions. CCR was controlled by Andrade Gutierrez, Camargo Correa, Odebretch, Serveng-Civilsan and Servix and Via Engenharia (SVE). In 2001, Brisa Autoestradas de Portugal SA purchased a 20% stake in CCR. In 2003, both Odebretch and SVE sold their stakes in CCR (16.89% and 5.13% respectively) to the remaining shareholders. As of December 2003, CCR was controlled by Brisa, Andrade Gutierrez, Camargo Correa, and Serveng-Civilsan. During 2003, after the concessionaries that operate in State of Parana failed to reach an agreement with the government to lower the toll rates, the government of the State of Parana enacted a statute to cancel the concession contract and return the management and operation of the highways to the State. In December 2003, a Federal Court declared that the cancellation should be preceded by an administrative process in order to define the due compensation of the company. In January 2004, the governor of the State of Parana enacted an executive decree declaring that the State was authorized to take the voting shares of Rodonorte. The state government declared that the expropriation would not take place if the company agreed to reduce toll rates. In December 2004, Paraná state highway department (DER) started an administrative process to rescind Rodonorte tollroad's concession contract, arguing 173 irregularities found along the highway's 568km in DER inspections and a report by the state's comptroller general. In April 2005, CCR completed a six-year US$57.7 million (150 million real) debentures issuance, which was acquired mainly by Investment Funds. As of 2005, DER had fined Rodonorte US$7 million and ordered to lower tolls by an average of 6%. DER also claimed that Rodonorte has failed to comply with its concessionary duties to guarantee the standards of quality needed along the highways it operates. By 2009, there were still several judicial processes underway against the concessionaire, but the company remained operating the toll road. In 2009, the toll rates were allowed to be adjusted. Also in 2009, the company issued debentures in total value of BRL 85 million. In 2010, CCR held 85.92% of Rodonorte shares. The main shareholders in CCR were Camargo Corrêa (16,4%); Serveng-Civilsan (16,4%); Andrade Gutierrez (16,2%); and Brisa (16,4%). The remaining of the shares were in the control of several shareholders. As of 2014, the lawsuits were still underway, but toll road remained under control of Rodonorte. Since taking over January 1, 2003, governor Roberto Requiao has been at odds with the state's highway concessionaires over tolls, works and "irregularities" in the contracts signed under previous state government administrations. In 2006 CCR will acquire shares representing 11.7% of Rodonorte from companies BGPAR, Construtora Castilho and Monte Bérico Participações. Once the operation is realized, it will hold an 85.9% interest in Rodonorte The investments undertaken by Rodonorte , year by year were: 1998 – US$ 83.5 million (R$ 100.8 million) 1999 – US$ 1.6 million (R$ 2.9 million) 2000 – US$ 12.8 million (R$ 24.9 million) 2001 - US$ 41.6 million (R$ 92.5 million ) 2002 – US$ 41.2 million (R$ 145.9 million) 2003 - US$ 27.4 million (R$ 82.4 million)