DNIT Delays BR-319 Paving Tenders After Court Reversal

Overview

• DNIT said it will relaunch four auctions after Tuesday’s TRF1 order lifted a same-day lower-court halt on the BR-319 works.
• The tenders cover about 339 kilometers in the road’s middle stretch and the April notices total more than R$1.3 billion, up from a March estimate of R$678 million.
• DNIT classified the work as maintenance under a new licensing law, relying on an AGU opinion to waive a full environmental license.
• Observatório do Clima sued over the plan, and the Amazonas judge cited Ibama studies warning that paving would spur deforestation, illegal side roads and land grabbing.
• TRF1’s president said keeping the freeze would waste the 2026 dry-season work window and worsen costs, dust and access on the only road link to Manaus.