Brasília, October 24, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The situation of Brazil's roads is not encouraging. The National Confederation of Transports (CNT) did a study in July and August of approximately 57 thousand kilometers of paved federal and state highways and found that almost 60% are in a deficient state, either poor or very poor. Of the total mileage surveyed, 77.6% lacks adequate traffic signs, 34% lacks shoulders, and, along 28%, traffic signs are covered by brush.

The CNT study indicates that nearly 83% of federal highways suffer from some type of deficiency in highway geometry, paving, or traffic signs. For the president of the organization, Clésio Andrade, the solution for the poor condition of the highways is for the government to use resources from the CIDE, the fuel sales tax, which was created for this purpose.

If this is not done, he affirms, the cost of doing business in Brazil will remain high, and the accident index will increase, as will the cost of paying for accident damages. This situation can also drive away foreign investors, and the transportation sector will be in a state of collapse in 5 years, since entrepreneurs will no longer want to make investments.

The regions in which highways are in poorest conditions are the North, Northeast, and Center-West. The country's best highway network is found in the South and Southeast, where private enterprise is responsible for part of the system. According to the CNT's calculations, Brazil would require R$ 7.5 billion today to bring the pavement and signage of its roads up to ideal conditions. This without considering innovations, doubling of lanes, construction of new sections, and improvements in the geometrical design of routes. (DAS)