Work under a new Tender: Construction of an international bridge over the Paraguay River, between Carmelo Peralta (PY) and Porto Murtinho (BR)

Invitation for MOPC Binational Public Tender N°15/21 was published on March, at the National Directorate of Public Procurement (DNCP) portal, for contracting construction companies domiciled in Paraguay or Brazil to build an international road bridge over the Paraguay River between the cities of Carmelo Peralta (Alto Paraguay) and Porto Murtinho (Mato Grosso do Sul), under ID 394,977.

This international road bridge (cable-stayed), with construction funded by the binational entity Itaipú, is key to the realization of the Regional Bioceanic Road Corridor that will allow Paraguay to access maritime ports on the Pacific (in Chile) and Atlantic (in Brazil) oceans, while turning the Paraguayan Chaco into a logistics hub for the region. It should be noted that currently the first stage of the Bioceanic Road Corridor that will link the cities of Loma Plata and Carmelo Peralta (border city with Brazil) is at an advanced stage of execution by the Consortium formed by Ocho A from Paraguay and Queiroz Galvao from Brazil, after having its financial closing in May 2019 [1]

Main details of the project are the following:

Convening entity: Municipality of Carmelo Peralta

Executing entity: Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC)

Contract Amount: ₲ 540,159,888,833 (about USD 83,000,000)

Contract Administration: Administration of the contract will be under responsibility of the Project Executing Unit (PEU), formed according to an agreement entered by MOPC, Municipality of Carmelo Peralta and Binational Entity ITAIPU.

Bidders: Individual companies or consortiums formed by construction companies domiciled in Paraguay and Brazil may be bidders. For consortiums, being incorporated in Paraguay will be a mandatory requirement for the leading company. Companies incorporated in Paraguay, either alone or together with other Paraguayan companies, must have a majority participation in the Consortium.

Construction term: 1080 days following the issuance of the Start Order (equivalent to approximately 3 years).

Characteristics of the work: The bridge will have a total length of 1,300 meters and will be articulated in three sections, consisting of two access viaducts, one on the Paraguayan bank of the river and the other on the Brazilian side, and in the middle of both, a cable-stayed section of 630 meters long.

Contracting regime: Traditional public tender under Law No. 2051/03 and Law No. 6086/18 that approves the agreement between Paraguay and Brazil for the construction of the international bridge.

Monitoring and awarding of the project: By a joint committee (Brazilian / Paraguayan) created within the framework of Law No. 6086/18.

For more information, please contact Adriana Ocampos: adriana.ocampos@berke.com.py or Martín Carlevaro:  martin.carlevaro@berke.com.py

[1] Berkemeyer was the legal advisor under local law in the financial closing that included the issuance of the first international project bond in Paraguay (USD 730 million, zero coupon), under rule 144A / Reg. S and a revolving credit line of USD 50 million with 4 local banks for working capital.