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Sao Paulo state transport agency, Secretaria de Transportes Metropolitanos, and the ABC consortium have achieved commercial closure for the PPP contract to build and operate Sao Paulo metro Line 18 (Bronze). The contract was signed on August 22nd.

ABC consortium was selected as the preferred bidder in mid July this year. The team is formed by the following firms: local construction companies Primav, Encalso, Cowan and Argentina's Benito Roggio.

The PPP contract includes construction, operation and maintenance of civil works and systems of line 18 (with span of 14,9 km). The necessary rolling stock (26 trains) will also be provided and maintained by the concessionaire. The concessionaire will be also responsible for 13 stations on Line 18 and the maintenance facilities.

The length of the contract will be 25 years, 4 years for the implementation of the project and 21 years of operation. Construction works are set to start in November this year.

The total project investment is estimated at R$4.2 billion (US$1.9 billion). The government will fund 50 % of the investment (around US$780 million) of the total amount excluding land acquisition costs. The government plans to add R$400 million in a second phase to boost land acquisitions. 

The monorail will connect the municipalities of Santo André, São Bernardo do Campo and São Caetano do Sul to the metropolitan region of São Paulo. It will have capacity to transport 314,000 passengers per day.

The structuring of the PPP project was carried in collaboration with the private sector, via Procedure of Expression of Interest (PMI). Four companies delivered the feasibility studies requested by the state. However, only part of the studies received were used for the final structuring of the contract: 34.38% from Invepar-Construtora Queiroz Galvão-Bombardier's study and 46.38 % from Odebrecht's study.