The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) has recently approved a bridge loan of R$965.75 million ($404 million) to BR-040 S.A., the SPV that holds the 30-year concession to upgrade and operate a stretch of a highway linking the capital Brasilia to the port of Rio de Janeiro.

BR-040 S.A. is owned by Brazilian toll road operator Invepar. The firm won the tender process in December 2013 and signed the concession on 12 March 2014.

Invepar is expected to invest R$4.45 billion (around US$2 billion) in BR-040 over the first five years of the concession. Invepar will duplicate 557 Km of road during the first five years.

The contract covers a 937-kilometer stretch of Brazil's BR-040 highway between Brasilia and Juiz de Fora on the border of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro states. The project is included in the Investment Program in Logistics (PIL), launched in 2012 as part of Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) of the Federal Government.

The plan aims to upgrade about 5,176 kilometers of mostly two-lane highways into four-lane divided highways within five years. The plan also aims to attract 27 billion reais ($11.4 billion) in investments over five years.

In late August BNDES approved a bridge loan in the amount of R$1.106 billion (US$489 million) for Aeroporto Rio de Janeiro S.A, the concessionaire of Antônio Carlos Jobim (Galeão) airport concession.