China's State Grid wins bid for two transmission lines in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO - China's State Grid Brazil Holding on Wednesday won bids on two power transmission lines in Brazil, said the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (Aneel).

The company won the rights of two lots located around the Paranatinga town in Mato Grosso, west Brazil, at 334.5 million reais ($95.6 million) and 61.4 million reais ($17.5 million) respectively

On Wednesday, over 10 companies got 14 transmission lines stretching across 3,402 km, with bid price totalling 6.87 billion reais ($1.96 billion), said Aneel.

And the companies winning the bidding will earn up to 2.5 billion reais ($715 million) annually over the 30 years of the concession.

They will also be able to benefit from the sub-stations which start operation in 2017, according to tender contracts.

Jose Jurhosa, director of the Aneel, said that the investments are of signigicant value for the country struggling in recession.

"Given the situation of Brazilian economy, receiving almost 7 billion reais ($2 billion) in infrastructure investments is really very positive," said Jurhosa.

The regulatory agency has put up for bid of 24 transmission lines of 6,500 km, which it estimates would bring in 12.2 billion reais ($3.49 billion) and create 27,640 direct jobs.