By Brazil Stock Guide – Brazil’s Federal Audit Court, known as TCU, revoked on Wednesday (6) a temporary injunction that had blocked a 2.6 billion-real federal contribution to the Santos-Guarujá submerged tunnel, a major infrastructure project planned for São Paulo state’s coast.
The decision was reported by Broadcast. The court had suspended the transfer in March over concerns that the parties involved had not signed a formal legal instrument to govern the use of the funds, creating risks for the administration of the federal contribution.
Justice Bruno Dantas, the case rapporteur, said the document submitted to the court by the Santos Port Authority, or APS, was not yet sufficient to fully regulate the management of the resources, but represented meaningful progress toward resolving the governance issue.
“The block was intended to seek interfederative governance that would provide legal certainty for the federal contributions. There has been progress, not yet enough, but necessary to revoke the injunction, since the contribution must be made by next week or there will be a contractual breach,” Dantas said while presenting his vote.
The release of the funds remains subject to the formalization of a legal instrument regulating the governance of the federal contribution, according to the rapporteur. That condition means the court’s decision allows the transfer to move forward, but does not eliminate the requirement for a more robust framework to manage the money.
The Santos-Guarujá tunnel is designed to create a fixed link between the coastal cities of Santos and Guarujá, which currently rely on ferry crossings and other routes that can face congestion and operational constraints.
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