BEIJING, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Two Chinese companies are bidding for the second longest bridge in South America, a project in Brazil recently announced in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, and the bidding result is expected to be unveiled in June.
China Construction Communications Company Limited (CCCC), one of the largest infrastructure investors in China, and China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation (CR-20), a major Chinese construction firm, plan to form a consortium to bid on the bridge project on a 50-50 basis. Other construction firms may eventually join the consortium as well, according to Felsberg & Associates, CCCC's law advisor in Sao Paulo.
To become eligible to participate in major infrastructure projects in Brazil, CCCC purchased an 80-percent stake in a mid-size Brazilian engineering company, Concremat Engenharia, two years ago, following the advice of Felsberg & Associates.
With a designed length of 12.4 kilometers, the bridge will link Brazil's fourth largest city Salvador with Itaparica, a tropical island. The two cities are both in the state of Bahia.
Under current plans, the bridge will be constructed with a series of tunnels and raised bridges, replacing a ferry service that currently takes about one hour to go from downtown Salvador to Itaparica.
The project is estimated to cost more than 2 billion U.S. dollars. Of this sum, the state of Bahia will contribute about 400 million U.S. dollars.
The project is part of a plan for regional development and the improvement of a logistical corridor in and around the city of Salvador, directly benefiting 4.4 million people in the region. (Contributed by Lin Wei, Edited by Li Wenxin, liwenxin@xinhua.org)
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