Around R$ 1.57 billion are expected to be injected into the Highway Paving Program (Pro Acesso) until 2010. Only this year, investments in the State's Program will sum up around R$ 1 billion, according to the State Public Works and Transportation Department.
The government's objective is to start working on 48 stretches in the current year. The whole program is expected to benefit 225 state towns and 1.5 million people. By the end of the Program, which started in 2004, investments are expected to reach R$ 2.8 billion.
The Pro Acesso Program envisages connecting towns through paved highways and has already benefited 101 towns in the State of Minas Gerais. The Program has paved 2.2 thousand kilometers of highways with investments at the amount of R$ 1.23 billion. By 2010, around 5.5 thousand kilometers of highways will have been paved.
Investments will be funded by the State Treasury as well as by financing agreements signed with the World Bank and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
Pro-MG and Green Line - the State Government also supports the State Highway Maintenance and Recuperation Program (Pro-MG), in which R$ 533 million will be injected in 2009. The program comprises 8 thousand kilometers of highways. The objective of Pro-MG is favoring 3.8 thousand kilometers of state highways with investments expected to reach 1.5 billion by 2012.
Morevover, the State Government finished works on the Green Line in December 2008, a project in which around R$ 400 million were injected. The highway is 35 kilometers long and was developed in order to improve the vehicles flow between the State Capital City and Tancredo Neves International Airport (AITN), in Confins, Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte (RMBH).
Source: Diário do Comércio