The Court of Audit of the State of Sao Paulo (TCE/SP), after examining objections submitted by two citizens, has suspended the tender process for the Ribeirão Preto waste PPP project. 

The PPP contract included the provision of the following public services: urban cleaning, handling, treatment and disposal of solid, health and construction waste.

 The following irregularities were alleged, among other:

• lack of basic design that measures accurately the costs and expenses of the concession,
• absence of environmental license,
• lack of mitigation or compensatory measures inherent to environmental impacts,
• absence of Basic Sanitation Plan and Plan for Integrated Management of Municipal Solid Waste,
• need for environmental impact assessment,
• absence of basic design or basic information about the area of the former landfill site and its conditions,

The PPP contract had a period of 20 years and the estimated investment of the contract was R$ 272 million (US$119 million).

The TCE/SP granted a period of five days for the Municipality of Ribeirão Preto to submit considerations to these allegations.

According to sources, the project had already been questioned by several parties at the beginning of the year.