Brazil: Paraná State demands respect.

In 1994, at the end of first Roberto Requião's government , Paraná invested its own resources to duplicate BR-376 in Curitiba-Garuva stretch, until then a very dangerous road.

In 2007, after goings and comings, Lula's government is talking again about opening licitations to give the exploration of this road to the private initiative. The state governor Robert Requião does not agree.

Requião evaluates that the concession of highways in Brazil has been badly calculated. In general, it serves so that private entrepreneurs have huge profits from precarious and cosmetic maintenance of goods constructed by public money.

In the case of BR-376 the situation is still more serious. Because it is intended to give to private exploration a federal highway that was constructed with money of the people of Paraná State.

In the meeting of this tuesday of the School of Government, Requião informed that “if federal government to insist on introducing tolls in the roads of Paraná State, the government of the State will to qualify itself to these concessions”.

The declaration of Requião replies to the announcement made monday by federal government, during the launching of the Program of Acceleration of Growing (PAG), that the Union will keep, however with a new modeling, the process of concessions of seven stretches of federal highways in Brazil - three of which in the Paraná.

The minister Dilma Roussef already had announced in her visit to the governor of Paraná State, Roberto Requião, in january the 9th, that the concessions of the highways would be revised by federal government with the objective to guarantee the lesser price for the new model of toll in the Country.

The enclosed parana's highways in the program of concessions of Federal Government are: BR -166 between Curitiba and São Paulo; BR -116 from Curitiba (region of Mandirituba) until Santa Catarina, in direction to the Rio Grande do Sul; e BR-376 from Curitiba to Florianópolis.

There are 27 toll squares of the concessionaires in Paraná state that resulted in a collection superior to R$ 735 million ( Near US$ 330 million ) in the year 2006, according to a study of the Paraná State Department of Roads ( DER ).

Less than 30% of this total has been reinvested in the maintenance of the roads.

Requião is convinced that if the State to assume the roads it will be able to demonstrate that is possible to make the maintenance, to repay the investments made for Paraná State 13 years ago and to offer a better service by a lower cost.

The participation of the State in these licitations is a question of respect to real interest of Paraná State. And Paraná State demands this respect.