RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government plans to auction 44 infrastructure projects in 2020, Infrastructure Minister Tarcisio Freitas said on Friday.

Out of the 44 projects, 22 are airports to be conceded to the private sector. There are also nine ports, seven highways and six railways, he said. Among the highways to be auctioned is the Presidente Dutra road, which is around 400 km long and connects Brazil's largest cities, Rio and Sao Paulo.

Photo: Xinhua

According to the minister, the government aims to attract 101 billion reals (24.6 billion U.S. dollars) in investments in these projects.

"We have attractive projects and investors are interested in a way I had never seen before," Freitas said. "The next years should be interesting for the infrastructure sector."

In 2019, 27 assets, including 12 airports, were auctioned for 5.4 billion reals (1.3 billion dollars).