The Portuguese group Mota-Engil, which is attended by the Chinese company China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), won the auction for the Construction of the tunnel that will connect the cities of Santos and Guarujáon the coast of São Paulo.
O leilão foi realizado durante a tarde de hoje na B3, sede da Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo, e contou com a presença do vice-presidente Geraldo Alckmin, dos ministros Fernando Haddad (Fazenda), Márcio França (Empreendedorismo, da Microempresa e da Empresa de Pequeno Porte do Brasil) e Silvio Costa Filho (Portos e Aeroportos) e do governador de São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, além de deputados, secretários estaduais e other authorities.
The group offered 0.50% discount, beating the proposal made by the other foreign group, the Spanish Actiolawhich offered zero percent discount on the value of the public consideration.
The auction trial criterion selected the proposal that offered the highest discount percentage on the value of the maximum public consideration, set at R $ 438.3 million per year.
THE Auction winner will be responsible for the construction, operation and maintenance of the tunnel for a period of 30 years.
With an estimated investment of R $ 6.8 billion, the project will have a public contribution of up to R $ 5.14 billion, also divided between the São Paulo government and the federal government. The rest will be covered by the private initiative.
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Protest
While the event was held, a group held a protest in front of the B3 headquarters. They argue that the work will cause expropriations.
“We have been here representing a community that has been installed for many years, which have been born or live there. What we want is to do a fair, ethical, moral and worthy expropriation process,” said José Santaella of the Macuco Community Association, located in Santos, in an interview with Agência Brasil.
According to him, about 200 families can be impacted depending on the place of installation of the tunnel. Families living in the region have not yet received information on possible impacts.
“What we want is a state tutelage, which the state guarantees a quick documentation for people who do not have this today. Then, to make an evaluation of the properties of the surrounding area because the city of Santos is an island,” said Santaella, noting that the community fights not to occur “expulsion of this community” from the city of Santos.
Suspension request
This Thursday (4), Minister Bruno Dantas, of the Federal Court of Audit (TCU), rejected a request made by the Public Prosecution Service with the TCU (MPTCU) to Suspend the auction of the tunnel .
The MPTCU questioned the auction model, which could suggest that the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) “would have favored foreign groups and tax restrictions on Brazilian companies, making it impossible for its participation in the event”.
In his decision, Minister Bruno Dantas considered that the representation was based “only in journalistic report” and had no concrete evidence of irregularities.
For the TCU minister, financing issues are external to the bidding process and do not configure flaws in the notice.
The tunnel
The Santos-Guarujá tunnel is the largest work of the new PAC (Growth Acceleration Plan) and will be the first submerged crossing in Brazil. It will be 1.5 kilometer long.
Of this total, 870 meters will be immersed, with precast concrete modules installed on the port channel bed.
The project includes three bearing lanes in each direction, one of them adapted for Light Rail Vehicle (VLT), as well as bike path and space for pedestrians and service gallery.
The project already has prior environmental license from the São Paulo State Environmental Company (CETESB), issued in August 2025.
Currently, there are two main modes of crossing between the two cities: the 43 km route via Cônego Domênico Rangoni Highway (SP-055), used by commercial vehicles, with an average time of 60 minutes; and the ferry and ferries system, used by pedestrians, cyclists and light vehicles, with crossing times ranging from 18 to 60 minutes, depending on the operating conditions of the port.
According to the São Paulo government, vessel crossings carry more than 21,000 vehicles, 7,700 cyclists and 7,600 pedestrians.
With the tunnel, the time spent on this crossing should not exceed five minutes.
In addition to reducing the travel time, the tunnel will connect the regions of Outeirinhos and Macuco in Santos, the Vicente de Carvalho neighborhood of Guarujá, which should alleviate traffic on the highway, boost tourism, strengthen the local economy and contribute to reducing emissions by encouraging collective and sustainable transportation means.
