Chinese firms plan to form a consortium to bid in an auction for the right to build and operate a railway known as Ferrogrão. Ferrogrão will link grain-producing regions in Brazil’s center-west to the port of Miritituba.

Adalberto Vasconcelos, Brazil’s secretary for the government’s public-private partnerships programme, said state-owned Chinese companies intend to form a consortium to take part in the auction for the right to build and operate the 1,100km Ferrogrão route. The project is estimated to demand US$3.89 billion in investments. When the railway is built, Ferrogrão will connect grain-producing regions in Brazil’s center-west to the port of Miritituba, in the northern Pará state. The railway is expected to be an alternative to BR-163 road, currently the only way to take grains from central Brazil to northern ports.

“The Chinese are very interested in Ferrogrão. They are state-owned companies of various industries and are building a consortium between them,” Vasconcelos told Reuters. “They are companies from the concrete, steel, dormant branches forming an integrated consortium to participate in the auction. The Chinese do not compete with each other outside the country,” Vasconcelos told Reuters.