Brazil national development bank BNDES has approved two bridge loans valued at a total of R$1.41 billion (US$623 million) for federal highway concession projects.

BNDES has provided a R$762 million (US$334 million) loan to Concessionária Rota do Oeste S.A., a subsidiary of Odebrecht for the BR-163/MT road concession. The project achieved commercial closure on 12 March 2014. The concession will have a period of 30 years.

The BR-163/MT road PPP project, with an investment during the first five years of R$2.38 billion (US$1.13 billion), involves a 851km segment of BR-163 in the state of Mato Grosso. It will have nine toll booths and entail widening 454km of the highway, also before the fifth year of the concession. The road stretch will have nine toll plazas.

BNDES has also provided a R$646.6 million (US$289 million) loan to Concessionária Rodovia Sul-Matogrossense, a subsidiary of the Brazilian group CCR for the BR-163/MS highway . This project also achieved commercial closure on 12 March 2014.

This contract involves the maintenance, operation, implementation of improvements and expansion of capacity of the BR-163/MS highway in the center-west state of Mato Grosso do Sul, one of the nation's centers of agricultural production. The total length highway in this lot is 847.2 km. The total project investment is estimated at R$3.4 billion (US$1.46 billion) in the next five years to carry out the construction of additional lanes of traffic.

These two contracts were awarded in late November 2013. The highway concessions were awarded as part of the government's Logistics Investment Program, through which some 7,500 kilometers (4,660 miles) of federal highways are to be placed under private management.

The loan bridges will finance the investments expected for 2014 and 2015 while the project financing is structured with commercial lenders or in the capital markets.