Skip to main content

Brazil-Spain group could lose highway contract

An engineering consortium made up of Brazil's Mendes Junior and Spain's Isolux Corsán could be stripped of its US$208 million contract to build part of the northern stretch of the Mario Covas beltway surrounding the city of São Paulo. The consortium, led by Mendes Junior, is having difficulty honouring commitments due to a lack of cash flow and, according to São Paulo state highway company Dersa, it is not completing works according to the contract schedule signed in January 2013, local paper Folha de Sã
April 10, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
RSSA consortium of Brazil's 6871 Mendes Junior and Spain's 1954 Isolux Corsán could lose its US$208 million contract to build part of the northern section of the Mario Covas beltway around the Brazilian city of São Paulo.

The consortium, led by Mendes Junior, is falling behind schedule because of cash flow problems, according to São Paulo state highway company 5947 Dersa. The deal was signed in January 2013, local paper Folha de São Paulo reported.

If matters do not improve this month, "it is very likely that we will terminate our agreement based on a breach of contract," Dersa president Laurence Casagrande was quoted as saying.

The 180km Rodoanel Mário Covas beltway is partially with a radius of around 23km from the geographical centre of Sao Paulo. It was named after Mário Covas, mayor of the city between 1983–1985 and a state governor from 1994-2001 until his death from cancer. It is a controlled access highway with a speed limit of 100kph.

The northern segment is the last of the bletway’s four sections to be built. Construction of Dersa’s stretch of the northern section was originally scheduled to be completed last year but was rescheduled to January 2016. However, at the beginning of this year, Dersa pushed back the completion date to the first half of 2017.

If terminated, Dersa could transfer the work to local construction company 4740 Odebrecht, which submitted the next best offer for the contract. If not, a new tender for the remaining work could be launched, according to the news report.

Mendes Junior is one of many engineering companies under investigated by the federal government's so called car wash corruption probe.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Kyiv mayor: "Resilience through digitalisation"
    November 15, 2022
    Smart City Expo World Congress hears inspirational address from Vitaliy Klitschko
  • Video enforcement added to all New Hampshire toll lanes
    April 24, 2015
    The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) is to install video enforcement cameras on all toll lanes on the NH turnpike system in a bid to deter non-payment of tolls. Enforcement cameras have previously existed in all the dedicated E-Z Pass lanes and open road tolling (ORT) lanes. As part of the last phase of the new lane system installation project, enforcement cameras will be installed in all remaining toll lanes. The change is set to be implemented around the end of April and will be compl
  • Data handling important for autonomous vehicles
    December 8, 2016
    Data handling is becoming an ever-greater part of transportation and never more so than with autonomous vehicles, as Andrew Bardin Williams hears from some big names.
  • Ohio River Bridges East End crossing project opened to traffic
    December 21, 2016
    The Ohio River Bridges East End Crossing, now named the Lewis and Clark Bridge, has opened to traffic to connect SR 265 in Indiana with the Gene Snyder Freeway in Kentucky, marking the substantial completion of the $2.3 billion Louisville Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges project, which included the Downtown Crossing, now named the Abraham Lincoln Bridge. Parsons was the lead partner in the Community Transportation Solutions joint venture (JV). The JV served as the overall project’s general engineerin