Brazil invites bids for Rio-Sao Paulo high-speed rail service

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday launched a public bidding for the construction and operation of the high-speed railway between the country's two largest cities.

The project, the most ambitious infrastructure project under the country's Program to Accelerate Growth, specified that the construction, operation, and maintenance of the railway will be granted to the consortium for 40 years that provides the lowest fare for the rail service between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Competitors must submit their proposals before Nov. 29 and the winner will be announced on Dec. 16 at the headquarters of Sao Paulo Stock Exchange.

Lula said he expected the railway to be in operation by 2016, when Brazil hosts the Olympic Games.

"We expect that much of the infrastructure that we are developing will be ready for 2016 Olympics: We live in a country with good weather conditions, we can work in three shifts to complete the work before 2016," he said.

Transport Minister Paulo Sergio Passos told a press conference that at least 10,000 direct and indirect jobs will be generated during the construction period, 30,000 will be created in the first ten years of operation, another 30,000 over the next 20 years.


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