The Brazilian Development Bank, BNDES, has approved a R$552,7 million (US$145.9 million) loan for the BR-050 highway concession linking the state of Goias to Minas Gerais.

In September 2013, Consorcio do Planalto won the right to operate the 436 kilometers road concession. Consorcio do Planalto is composed of Brazilian construction companies Senpar SA, Construtora Estrutural SA; Construtora Kamilos SA, Ellenco Construções SA; Engenharia e Comercio Bandeirantes and Greca Distribuidora de Asfaltos.

The financing conditions had already been established in the tender process. The price of the loan is 2% above the long-term interest rate of the BNDES (TJLP). As of now, the TJLP is at 7%.

The loan has a grace period of 5 years, during the investment phase, and an amortization period of 20 years.

R$120 million of the total financing package will be transferred to the Banco De Desenvolvimento De Minas Gerais (BDMG). Caixa Economica Federal (CAIXA) will also finance the project. The total financing of CAIXA and BNDEs will reach 69% of the project investment, which is estimated at R$1,6 billion (US$ 390.5 million)

The concessionaire also plans to issue bonds to finance the project.

The 30-year concession involves the maintenance, operation and expansion of the highway BR-050 from Goias to São Paulo - Minas Gerais border.

Last month we reported that Brazil's national ground transport agency ANTT approved studies to develop three federal road concessions. The three projects are the following:

• BR-163 and BR-230 road concession.
• BR-364 and BR-060 road concession.
• BR-364 and BR-365 road concession.

The projects belong to the federal government's logistics investment program PIL, which aims to launch tender processes for 15 federal road concessions by 2016.