USTDA awarded a grant to the State Government of Minas Gerais Economic Development Secretariat to further the State’s goal of expanding its aviation infrastructure. The grant, which reflects USTDA’s ongoing commitment to the country’s development since naming Brazil as its 2008 Country of the Year, is the third awarded by the agency in recent months in support of the State’s development priorities. Today’s grant will fund a study that will recommend various options available to Brazil as it invests $1.3 billion in upgrading and expanding the Tancredo Neves International Airport.

The $573,000 grant was conferred in a signing ceremony at the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia. U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Clifford M. Sobel and Minas Gerais Governor Aécio Neves signed the grant agreement on behalf of the U.S. government and State Government of Minas Gerais, respectively.

Tancredo Neves International Airport serves Belo Horizonte, the state capital, and is the seventh busiest airport for passenger traffic in Brazil. In 2007, the airport handled 4.3 million passengers and over 55,000 flights, up from approximately 10,650 in 2004. While demand at the airport has steadily increased, so has the need to expand the airport and to update its Master Plan.

The USTDA grant will provide and updated demand-capacity analysis, financial plan, and an environmental and developmental impacts analysis. Moreover, the study will analyze forecasted passenger and cargo growth, runway extension and construction options, passenger terminal upgrade and second terminal construction options, and analyze cargo facility capital improvement options. The study will also provide recommendations with respect to the options for the development of public-private partnerships at the airport.

Yesterday’s grant complements a separate $241,000 USTDA grant awarded in September 2008 to the State of Minas Gerais Transport and Public Works Secretariat with respect to expansion of the PROAERO Small airports Network Program. The PROAERO grant provides technical assistance with respect to projected future capital expenditures, equipment procurement specifications, financing options, and program implementation toward the state’s goal of an integrated airport network.

USTDA also awarded a separate $425,000 grant in September 2008 to today’s grant recipient, the State Government of Minas Gerais Economic Development Secretariat, to further the state’s e-government initiative. That grant is funding assistance for the establishment of an administrative datacenter to upgrade and consolidate the datacenter functions of various state government secretariats.

Brazil was named USTDA’s 2008 Country of the Year as a result of the success of the agency’s program in advancing mutual economic benefits and U.S. policy priorities. Brazil is one of USTDA’s largest regional partners and the agency has invested in 91 priority projects there since 1981. Over the years, these investments have facilitated $263 million in U.S. exports.