Representatives of the Brazilian Company of Airport Infrastructure (Infraero) assured on Wednesday (14) that Brazilian airports will be ready for the 2014 Soccer World Cup and for the 2016 Olympics.

According to the Chief Financial Officer, Mauro Roberto de Lima, R$ 6.5 billion are being invested in the reform of airports. “Works will be completed on time and passenger demands will be met. We have the necessary planning in order to do so”, he said in a public hearing held by the Committee on Transportation.

According to Infraero, more than 2.7 million people are expected in airports near the 2014 Soccer World Cup host cities.

Major problems

The Infraero information, however, does not tranquilize Deputy Vanderlei Marcis. According to him, investments are late: “Since the air blackout, the government was not able to plan airports infrastructure development in order to meet the growing public."

Infraero’s Project Superintendent, Jonas Lopes, explained that the major bottlenecks are those in passenger terminals. While the works are not completed, the company will install temporary departure lounges using operational modules.

Mauro Roberto, on the other hand, countered the media criticism that these modules would be expensive and would not provide users the proper infrastructure. According to Infraero's Chief Financial Officer, modules are as comfortable and have the same furniture as permanent departure lounges. “They are used worldwide as a cost-effective solution while expansion works are being performed", he said.

Upon the completion of the debate, the Federal Court of Account’s (TCU) representative, Eduardo Machado Filho, said that there are no pending items within the agency hampering the works in Brazilian airports.

Translation – SP Language/Grupo Solucion – Thiago de Lira Capatti