Although he was elected with the nickname and made one of his brands, (Republicans) accumulates numerical results in the highway concessions sector that are more timid than other politicians, putting into question the exposure of one of their main electoral flags.
As head of the government’s Infrastructure (PL) portfolio, from 2019 to 2022, Tarcísio auctioned five concessions, with a network of around 3,100 km of roads. When he left office to run for the São Paulo government, his successor, Marcelo Sampaio, auctioned a sixth project, bringing the total for the period to around 3,900 km of highways granted.
In the current government mandate (PT), the Ministry of Transport, commanded until April this year by (), held 23 road auctions, with 10 thousand km of roads. The federal government still plans new rounds of offering sections to the market until December this year. If none of the auctions are postponed, the total should exceed 14 thousand km — more than triple that recorded under the Tarcísio/Sampaio administration.
As governor in São Paulo, Tarcísio held more road auctions than the administrations of João Doria (no party) and Rodrigo Garcia (Republicans), between 2019 and 2022. There were six auctions for the current governor, compared to two for his predecessors. The sum of the network transferred to the concessionaires by Tarcísio, however, is smaller than that transferred to the private sector by the previous state government.
Palácio dos Bandeirantes states that comparing concessions only by the extent of the network transferred or by the amounts collected does not allow measuring the efficiency of the projects.
“In isolation, these indicators do not measure the efficiency of a concession nor do they reflect the complexity of the works or the logistical and social benefits generated by the projects”, says the Tarcísio government, which argues that it is necessary to take into account performance indicators, quality of service and road safety.
Bolsonaro Government
Tarcísio was Minister of Infrastructure, a portfolio that brought together highways, railways, airports and ports. During the Lula government, these responsibilities were divided between two ministries: Transport (Renan Filho, until April) and Ports and Airports (Silvio Costa Filho, from the Republicans).
The nickname “Tarcisio do Asfalto”, which marked his candidacy for the São Paulo government, projected Tarcísio as a manager associated with highways. In practice, his performance as minister was better in airport concessions. His team transferred 50 terminals to the private sector. The Lula government auctioned 13.
The airport privatization program began in 2012 and, after the concessions during the Bolsonaro period, more than 90% of passenger traffic and 99% of cargo traffic were already in privatized terminals. The Lula government inherited the sector that was mostly already granted — leaving smaller regional airports, such as the 13 in the AmpliAR program, auctioned in 2025.
Palácio dos Bandeirantes states that, during his time in the ministry, Tarcísio promoted 84 auctions — considering ports, airports, railways and highways —, while the Lula government held 66 tenders. “The result of the Tarcísio administration is around 27% higher than that recorded by the current federal administration”, says the government.
In the port sector, the comparison is more balanced. According to the Ministry of Ports and Airports, there were 27 port auctions during the four years of the Bolsonaro government (2019-2022) and 29 in the first two and a half years of the Lula administration (until February 2026).
Government of São Paulo
In his three years and five months as governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio promoted concessions that transferred 1,614 km of highways to the private sector, with a forecast of R$39.6 billion in investments.
Under the Doria/Garcia administration, the network granted totaled 1,873 km, with R$27.9 billion in investments planned at the time — equivalent today to around R$36.5 billion adjusted for inflation.
In the case of São Paulo, however, Tarcísio had a smaller and less attractive stock of highways to be granted. The road privatization program is three decades old and the roads with the greatest demand and greatest capacity to generate revenue through tolls have already been granted.
The São Paulo government considers that, even with a smaller network, the volume of investments contracted in the current administration is higher than in the previous administration, which, according to Palácio dos Bandeirantes, reflects the greater complexity of the projects, which have more urban works, sections considered less profitable and more complex modeling, such as Rodoanel Norte, which was stopped for three years, and Nova Raposo, which includes urban works and walkways.
One of the main differences between the models adopted by the two administrations, however, is the origin of the resources that will finance part of the works.
In 2 of the 6 lots auctioned by Tarcísio, the model adopted was the sponsored PPP (Public-Private Partnership) — a modality in which the State remunerates the concessionaire throughout the duration of the contract, instead of the company depending exclusively on toll collection.
In practice, a relevant part of the works foreseen in the current administration’s concessions will be financed by government payments to the winning companies over the next few decades, while the works made possible by the Doria/Garcia management were structured to leave the paper without money from the Treasury.
The government defends the option for the model by saying that sponsored PPPs can “guarantee reasonable tariffs in projects that would not be sustainable under revenue-generating logic alone.”
Sandro Cabral, professor of strategy and public management at Insper, says that the model can be technically justifiable on highways whose assets do not generate enough revenue to finance the works required by the government. “A low flow of vehicles that will pay the toll may justify the option”, he states.
In the two PPPs (the Litoral Paulista Lot, which includes highways such as Mogi-Bertioga and Padre Manoel da Nóbrega, and the Paranapanema Lot, which includes a section of Raposo Tavares), the government committed to disbursing R$452.96 million per year to the winning companies, over a period of 30 years.
