A study recently disclosed by Dom Cabral Foundation (FDC) confirms what drivers already sense in practice: conceded highways offer better conditions than roads under public management in Brazil. Proportionally, a motorist has ten times less chance of encountering traffic jams in a determined stretch of road if the highway is maintained by the private sector.

The entity’s reaserchers have come to this result after crossing various data, from pavement conditions and type of terrain to vehicle flow of each stretch of road. Considering all that information, they ranked every highway by service level, measuring the quality in cargo and passenger movement in a scale that goes from A (excellent) to F (unacceptable). In the country, 19% of stretches under concession operate in class A, versus 2% of government maintained stretches.

In over two decades, the private sector changed part of the road scenario in the country. Today, 19 of the 20 best brazilian highways are under private companies management. Specialist attribute the high quality to the investment volume. Released by CNT last year, the study Highway Transportation – The sector’s Performance, Infrastructure and Investment revealed that brazilian’s providers has destined R$ 354,5 thousand per kilometer in a year – more than twice the amount spent by the federal government: R$ 159,6 thousand per kilometer. The Brazilian Highway Providers Association (ABCR) calculates a contribution of R$ 81 billion in management and R$ 97 billion in construction between 1995, when the first contracts started to operate, and last year.

Those investments reflect on benefits to drivers: only in preservation, companies resurfaced 77,9 thousand kilometers and rebuilt 19,4 kilometers of road shoulders in two decades, not counting the construction of roads, bridges and overpassings. Security and prompt assistance are priorities: in the last five years there was a 17,65% reduction in fatal accidents.

Progress is needed

Now, the private sector manages about 20 thousand kilometers of highway, less than 10% of the national road network. The union and the state try to expand that number, but concessions advance in a slow pace. Studies from the very own Palácio do Planalto show the poorness of the situation. Released in july by the Planning and Logistics Company, the Logistics National Plan points bottlenecks on 26,2 thousand kilometers of federal and state highways – many of those stretches could be transferred to private companies.

Another indicator comes from the National Infrastructure Department (DNIT). Short on capital, this year the agency detected potential to deliver 25 thousand of the 55 thousand kilometers under their management to the private sector, which would be responsible for maintenance and preservation of the stretches of road. Without reaching an agreement, the plan didn’t pan out. “The viewpoint of the society, that we must improve highways and that the private sector is a partner in this effort, must be translated into more concessions. And it does not depend on us making bids, because that’s a job for the public sector”, says César Borges, president of ABCR.

By speeding concessions, Brazil will be able to contradict Dom Cabral Foundation’s diagnosis. To understand the seriousness of the matter, the scenario already causes concern: about a third of highways in the country operates under debt – stretches with services ranked as “bad” and “very bad”. Without new projects, the situation will get worse. The estimative is that, by 2025, half of the highways will rank negative, and that percentage tend to raise to 57% a decade later.