FGV’s Brazilian Institute of Economics (IBRE), through the Revista Conjuntura Econômica (Brazilian Economy Magazine), will bring together experts to discuss Sanitation: high-impact social investment on June 29, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.. The agenda will include topics such as the main obstacles faced by the industry, such as regulation, legal certainty, tariffs, investments, and the role of the private sector in this process.

“We focused on infrastructure seminars because it is one of the main bottlenecks that Brazil must solve in order to resume grow, besides a series of other reforms that are necessary. Sanitation is part of that problem, as there is little investment in this area due to the country’s underdevelopment, and investments are often of low quality. Poor sanitation raises society’s costs, since it lowers the population’s quality of life and increases public spending in healthcare,” said Claudio Conceição, executive editor of The Brazilian Economy Magazine and Superintendent of Publications at IBRE.

In 2007, the Sanitation Act (Law No. 11.445/2007) was passed, placing the subject on the agenda. According to Joisa Dutra, director of FGV’s Center for Regulation and Infrastructure Studies (CERI), the sector changed its course this year, due to the increase in investments through initiatives such as the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC). The less than BRL 4 billion spent per year until 2007 nearly doubled, reaching BRL 9 billion. In 2015, investments reached BRL 12 billion. However, the economist points out that there has been little progress in the quality of the service.

“When we consider the evolution, we can’t view the actual coverage: we virtually doubled the investments, although we have advanced a lot less than 10 percentage points in sewage treatment service. It’s not enough. Currently, almost half of the Brazilian population (49.7%) has no access to sewage collection services. Our next challenge is to universalize access to sanitation,” she said.

According to the expert, the country will only be able to move forward if it attracts investors and creates project control mechanisms, in order to boost efficiency. “We have to mitigate risks both in terms of preparation and project analysis – such as currency risks, to attract foreign investors –, besides implementing conflict resolution mechanisms and insurance instruments to carry out infrastructure works. We must improve the business environment to attract new partners,” she said.

The seminar will be held at FGV’s Berrini Auditorium in Sao Paulo. Go to the website to learn more and register.