Sao Paulo state transport agency, Secretaria de Transportes Metropolitanos, has selected the ABC consortium as the preferred bidder for the $4.2 billion (US$1.9 billion) PPP contract to build and operate Sao Paulo metro Line 18 (Bronze).

ABC consortium, which was the only bidder, is formed by local construction companies Primav, Encalso, Cowan and Argentina's Benito Roggio.

The contract is scheduled to be signed in early September and the construction works will start in November this year.

The PPP contract includes construction, operation and maintenance of civil works and systems of line 18 (with span of 14,355 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. The government will fund 50 % of the investment (around US$780 million) of the total amount excluding land acquisition costs.

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.