Brazil investment plan for ports to exceed $15 bln -source

BRASILIA Aug 16 (Reuters) - An investment plan that commodities giant Brazil will announce in the coming weeks to boost capacity at its clogged sea ports could exceed 30 billion reais ($15 billion), a source involved in the plan's development told Reuters on Thursday.

The investment would come on top of a 133 billion reais state-led investment package the government announced on Wednesday to improve its road network and expand a woefully-inadequate rail system in the continent-sized country.

Those investments were welcomed by local industry and economic analysts who say years of under-investment in infrastructure is restricting Brazil's economic potential after rapid growth in the last decade that has strained logistics.

The source said the government was still considering the final details of the plan and deciding on an investment model, but said it would involve both the construction of new ports and terminals and the revamping of existing facilities.

The investment model would also be designed to stimulate competition among private companies for the operation of terminals at the ports.

Ilheus in the northeastern state of Bahia and the river port in Manaus in the Amazon region are among sites where private enterprise would be responsible for building and running new terminals.

The plans for investments at the ports aim to ensure their capacity expands in tandem with the rail network whose capacity to deliver cargo will increase immensely after Wednesday's announcement of 91 billion reais investments in the system.

($1 = 2.0198 Brazilian reals) (Writing by Peter Murphy; Editing by Joseph Radford)