Projects worth R$3 billion are at risk due to bankruptcy proceedings.

247 - Construction projects totaling over R$ 3 billion have been paralyzed since last year due to the involvement of construction companies in the Lava Jato corruption scandal, which are now seeking judicial reorganization. These include highways awaiting duplication, half-finished urban mobility projects, and the slow construction of the largest fertilizer factory in Latin America, all halted due to the financial difficulties of companies like Mendes Júnior, OAS, and Galvão Engenharia. In some states, these projects have been stopped for over a year with no restart date in sight.

Below are some of the projects that are currently stalled:

In Recife, the BRT corridor, designed for the World Cup, is currently operating at 30% of its capacity because 11 of the 26 stations have not been completed. Mendes Júnior abandoned the project at the end of 2014, after receiving 80% of the budget (R$ 136 million). Along the 12 kilometers of track, some of what was built is deteriorating over time.

One of the flood control projects in the Maracanã area — the diversion of the Joana River to Guanabara Bay, which will include the largest rainwater drainage tunnel in the country — will become 25% more expensive after Mendes Júnior abandoned the work in 2014. Initially budgeted at R$ 193 million, it will cost R$ 243 million with the hiring of Planova-Rual.

Residents who bought apartments in a condominium built by OAS around the Grêmio stadium in Porto Alegre are prevented from receiving their keys because the company has not completed urbanization works in the surrounding area. Estimated at R$ 100 million, these works were interrupted in 2015 and there is no sign of resumption. The Porto Alegre city hall is attempting a last-ditch negotiation to avoid incurring the loss.

Also promised is the transformation of BR 153, between Goiás and Tocantins, into a modern and safe highway, with dual carriageways and signage. A year and a half after the federal concession was granted to Galvão Engenharia, no work has begun. Several contractual obligations, such as delivering 60 km of dual carriageway in the first year, have been breached. After threats of contract termination and attempts to transfer the concession to a third party, a new proposal from the company will be analyzed by the Federal Court of Accounts.

Around the same time that it took over the BR 153 project, the construction company was removed from the project for the largest nitrogen fertilizer plant in Latin America, in Três Lagoas (MS). Petrobras canceled the contract after the contractor delayed payments to employees and suppliers.

The largest road construction project in São Paulo, the northern section of the Rodoanel (ring road), has also been affected. Mendes Júnior has already interrupted work twice since last year. The project, which was supposed to be finished already, was delayed until 2017 and now will not be completed before March 2018. Approximately R$ 278,1 million has been spent, and 38% of the work has been completed.

Another road project that has been progressing on a back-and-forth basis is the duplication of the BR 167 highway in Mato Grosso. The work is proceeding slowly—20 km duplicated in three years—but the toll booths have already been installed. Mendes Júnior abandoned the project and left it to the other companies in the consortium.