Castelão: PPP still undefined and under threat of embargo

The final decision about the renovation work on the Castelão stadium, which shall the venue of the 2014 World Cup in the city of Fortaleza, is still stopped thanks to a spate of problems involving the other competitors in the tender process and also a threat of embargo from the Public Ministry of the State of Ceará. At best, the name of the selected consortium shall be announced on 10 June.

On Tuesday (1 June), the Government of the State of Ceará published the results of the technical proposals of the companies which are qualified to continue in the tender process for the construction work on the Castelão stadium, classifying the consortiums as follows: Marquise/EIT/CVS (100 points) and Novo Castelão (99 points), as well as the construction company Odebrecht (88 points). The Arena Multiuso consortium (Galvão Engineering, Serveng Civilsan and BWA Information Technology), which also took part in the tender process, did not have the results published in compliance with the decision taken by the Appeals Court Judge, Vera Lúcia Correia Lima, this being due to an appeal lodged by the Novo Castelão consortium who considered that this party was not qualified.

The tender commission has set a time frame of five business days, starting on Wednesday 2 June up to 9 June, for the appeal to be lodged at the General Attorney of the State (Procuradoria Geral do Estado - PGE), by the participating companies. After the completion of this tender phase, a new Public Hearing shall be scheduled for the opening of the financial proposals of the companies that remain in the running.  “My wish is that we can complete this process as soon as possible, so that the modernization work on the stadium may get under way”, said Ferruccio Feitosa, the Secretary for Sports in the state of Ceará and also responsible for the organization of the  World Cup in Fortaleza.

Project approved
On 17 May, Mr. Feitosa’s team welcomed the FIFA technical commission which carried out a technical inspection of the project for the Castelão stadium and also photographed internal and external premises of this venue that shall host the World Cup in 2014. The inspection plan was the same as that of the other host cities visited. The Fortaleza project, like that of all the other cities, was approved by the Commission.

According to Mr. Feitosa, “the project was considered ‘highly qualified’ and going the right way” by the commission of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC). The visit was also important as it confirmed the project for the Castelão, to draw up the letter that shall be sent to the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), that confirms the approval of the project, and also to confirm that the stadium is able to receive a World Cup semi-final. “We are very happy about FIFA’s visit and also with the confirmation of our project. Now we need to proceed with the legal procedures and guarantee to all that the stadium shall be delivered by 31 December 2012”, said Mr. Feitosa.

According to the Secretary, the value of the work on the Castelão stadium is the smallest of the Northeast Region. The estimated cost per seat for the Castelão (with a capacity of 66,700 seats) shall be R$ 6,779.93, for a total of R$ 452.2 million. According to the project designed by architecture firm Hector Vigliecca Arquitetos, the stadium shall become a large Olympic and tourist complex, and shall include athletics tracks, swimming pools, tennis courts, a multipurpose sports gymnasium, cinemas, restaurants and shops, and shall also receive a new structure for the stands, which shall be expanded and covered. A new parking area shall also be constructed, with a capacity for 4.2 thousand cars.

Precautionary suspension
At the same time, on another front, in the Audit Court of the State of Ceará (TCE-CE), there is progress with the request for precautionary suspension of the tender regarding the Public-Private Partenership (PPP) for the Castelão. According to the TCE, the tender process shows a string of irregularities, including the model itself as adopted by the Government, that of the PPP, which allows the winner of the tender to manage the stadium for a period of eight years. The criterion used for choosing the winner is the presentation of the best administrative project for the stadium, and not the best project for the execution of the work.

The Court of Accounts feels that this type of tender is anticompetitive, as the separation of the hirings could lead to a variety of price offers, and this could lead to a cheaper project. Another point stressed by the TCE is the fact that one of the consortiums participating in the tender has donated some R$ 200 thousand to the political campaign of Cid Gomes, back in 2006. To make the plot even thicker, according to the Public Ministry for Accounts (Ministério Público de Contas), the inclusion of the refurbishment of the new building used by the Secretary of Sports in the State of Ceará (Sesporte), as part of the tender, means that the cost of the project shall be much higher.

After a favorable opinion given by the TCE with regard to an embargo on the tender process for this work, the Governor of Ceará, Cid Gomes, is still saying that the work on the stadium shall not be in any way harmed, although he admits that there shall be delays. “I did not want things to be running late, but this is beyond my control; however, this delay of 30 days shall not affect the end of the final schedule, which is set at April 2013. We still have some leeway in our time frame”, he said.

The opinion-stating judge (relator) in the legal proceedings at the TCE-CE, councilor Edilberto Pontes, informed that the clarifications sent by the Secretariat of Sports are currently being appraised by the technical organization within the Tribunal, responsible for issuing a statement about this matter. Approached this Friday afternoon (4 June), the communication department of TCE-CE informed that the documents were still being analyzed and that there was no date set for a report to be issued.

*Collaborator: Simone Sousa, from Fortaleza