Is Brazil’s infrastructural bottleneck a concern to property investors? Whilst Brazils property investment reputation continues to grow, several concerns over the country’s infrastructural ability to keep in line with such expansion remains. Below is an outline of some of the issues facing the country and what solutions and progress are being undertaken to alleviate and minimise their effects. Urbanisation: most visitors to the major cities of Brazil cannot miss the juxtaposition of 1st and 3rd world living conditions with large favela (slum) communities which virtually coexist with luxury apartment blocks. In line with the infrastructural regeneration models, state governments are launching urbanisation programmes aimed at providing better conditions for poorer parts of cities in line with the growth. An example of this is the ‘Morar Carioca’ programme aimed at completely removing the 571 favelas in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro by 2020 (a significant amount of funding is set to be invested). Assisted by this are housing programmes such as the ‘Minha Casa, Minha Vida’ – which, it was recently announced, is hitting target levels in terms of new construction and lending levels – as well as rising income levels and greater opportunities for all sections of society. Transport and Logistics: with international demand increasing for Brazil’s huge reserves of untapped natural resources (the country is now the largest global exporter of beef, chicken, oranges, sugar and ethanol amongst others), the fact remains that just over 12 percent of the country’s roads are adequately paved – placing a major hold back for the country’s true potential to grow. Despite slow starts, a number of projects to improve the situation are well underway including the North to South railway line which will stretch from Belem down to São Paulo as well as the Growth Acceleration Programme (Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento, PAC) which has a total initial investment of R$ 62.8 billion for highway, railway, airport, port and public waterway improvements. Electricity: Brazil has the largest river system in the world and currently generates 83.5 percent of its electricity from hydro sources. Whilst environmentally respectful and cheap, many Brazilians refer back to the national blackout of 2001 when rationing had to be taken place as a result of an overstretched system. As a result, the government has responded by scaling up the construction of new power stations (as well as expanding on other energy resources) including the Belo Monte in the Amazonas state which, despite international environmental campaigning, will be the third largest in the world. Petroleum and Gas: As the Bovespa stock market measurement continues to show national oil company’s Petrobras’ value soar, concerns remain as to methodologies of accessing the fuel sources due to the fact that they are trapped 7,000 metres below sea water, salt and hard rock. As the recent events off the Gulf of Mexico have served to reinforce the risks of oil mining and extraction, the government are clearly aware of the enormity of the task and, in September 2010, announced a stock offering to assist with the funding of a R$ 224 billion, five-year capital-spending plan – much of which will be invested in deep-water exploration. At the same time, an increasing number of petroleum based companies and service providers are relocating to the coastal oil regions of the south east of the country (such as Macaé, Campos dos Goytacazes and Santos) to capitalise in what looks certain to be one of the leading industries of the country’s future.