The Court of Auditors of the State of Parana (Brazil) has suspended the tender process to develop and operate Curitiba's first metro through a Public private partnership PPP contract.

According to sources, the tender process has been canceled due to the fact that the Supervisory Board of Public Works pointed out irregularities in the announcement of the project.

Additionally the guidelines for environmental licensing were made by a body without legal authority to do that.

The city of Curitiba, the procurement agency for the project, has now a term of 15 days to submit allegations to the mentioned cancelation.

The blue line metro would span 17.6km with 15 stations. The project would involve the stretch between CIC-Sul and the Terminal do Cabral. The demand for the project was estimated at 419,000 passengers per day.

The total project investment was estimated at R$4.67 billion (US$1.96 billion).

The tender process was relaunched in early March by the Paraná state capital Curitiba. Following a request by a bidder, Curitiba decided to change a contract clause, clarifying that remuneration will be made by the city to the selected concessionaire through an annual payment.

In 2012, the city of Curitiba carried out a public consultation for the project but different problems made impossible the celebration of the tender process.

In October 2013, Triunfo Participações e Investimentos submitted the best Feasibility Studies in response to the Request for Expression of Interest (PMI) to structure a Public private partnership for the project.