Commission to discuss impact of concessions such as LOTEX on infrastructure

The impact of privatizations on Brazilian infrastructure will be discussed in the Infrastructure Commission (IC) in two public hearings. Senator Jorge Viana's (PT-AC) request for this purpose was approved at the meeting on Tuesday (5). The first debate should take place on 19 September.

The petitioner wants to discuss the consequences of the privatizations announced by the federal government in August. It will cover 57 companies and projects, including the Exclusive Instant Lottery ( Lotex), Eletrobrás, Casa da Moeda, and the airports of Congonhas (SP), Recife (PE), Maceió (AL), João Pessoa (PB), Aracaju (SE) and other major Brazilian cities, as well as highways and ports.

According to Viana, there is still no clarity, on the part of the government, on the strategies to be defined for each case. The announcement of privatizations and concessions, he argued, was not accompanied by the definition of the actions to follow and presupposes a package that mixes assets, without clear strategy or without studies that justify sales. For the senator, this may lead to depreciation of national public assets and a further process of loss of the Brazilian people's estate.

"Not every hour is good to sell what little or how much we have," he says.

Specialists in the theme will be invited to participate, as well as representatives of state governments, state organizations and municipalities affected by the measures, federations of workers and union federations, among others.

Source: GMB