São Paulo State Has More Than 1,000 Stalled or Delayed Public Works

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – São Paulo has 1,591 works stalled or behind in schedule, points out a survey of the State Court of Auditors (TCE) which GloboNews accessed.

According to data from the Works Panel prepared in June by the TCE, there are 747 stalled works and another 844 backlogged.

Of the total, 1,323 are municipal, while another 268 are under the responsibility of the state’s government.

According to TCE, R$13.2 billion (US$3.3 billion) was spent on the 1,591 projects. The total contracted investment is R$49.5 billion.

Among the incomplete works is the Complexo Hospitalar Cotoxó, in Pompeia, West Zone of the capital. This project has a contracted cost of R$63.4 million, of which R$ 24.3 million has already been paid.

The initial deadline for completion was June 3rd, 2014, but the works are still in progress. According to the state government, “its execution was impacted by the need for the project’s environmental readjustment with respect to its surroundings, of high demographic density.”

The new forecast for its delivery is the second half of 2020 — six years after the initial deadline.

In a note, the government of São Paulo says that “none of the works mentioned were initiated or halted under the current administration. Thus, the problems pointed out are prior to the current administration, which inherited at least 175 stalled works in January 2019 throughout the state, resulting in a liability of R$10 billion to public coffers. The government continues to make every effort to resume works.”