The city of Governador Valadares, located in Minas Gerais (Brazil), has canceled the tender process and, consequently, the public-private partnership (PPP) contract for a waste project, concluded in December 2015.

In July, the city started the administrative process in order to analyze the cancelation of the municipal solid waste management concession.

Among other arguments, in addition to irregularities in the tender process, the project was canceled due to the omission of the final impact of the project during the concession or the lack of objective criteria for the analysis of the technical proposals.

The concession involved the development of a solid waste treatment center and the management of the municipal waste services for a period of 30 years. The concession had a value of approximately R$1.55 billion (US$473,7 million).

As we reported in September 2015, interested bidders had to demonstrate experience operating a landfill (minimum capacity 2,755 t/m), and a solid waste transshipment station (minimum capacity 2,579 t/m).

Governador Valadares, with a population of approximately 260.000 inhabitants, is an economical center of the middle valley of the Doce River, having a significant influence on the east and northeast of Minas Gerais.