The government will not allow non-compliant airport and highway operators to use the covid-19 pandemic as a
“lifeline” for their concessions, warned the Infrastructure Minister Tarcísio Freitas Tuesday morning in an online
seminar organized by the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU).
The minister’s message was clear: the government admits, based on the opinion of the Federal Attorney
General’s Office (AGU), that the falling demand amid the novel coronavirus crisis cannot be treated as a
business risk and gives grounds for the economic-financial rebalancing of concession contracts. However, this
doesn’t mean forgiving pre-pandemic non-compliance, so the government will refrain from saving
concessionaires that “were already ill.”