147 mar/apr 2010 - Odebrecht Informa

ODEBRECHT
#147 • vol XXXVII • mar/apr 2010
English Edition
I N F O R M A
Welcome
The story of Braskem’s acquisition of Quattor and Sunoco

today
Rio de Janeiro
The campus of Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ) and Maestro Antonio Carlos Jobim
International Airport (Galeão) are projects that symbolize a period of major development
for Rio de Janeiro and Brazil. They are sources of pride for a city that holds a special place
in the hearts of all Brazilians. A place of “a thousand delights” according to the lyrics
of André Filho, it celebrated its 445th anniversary on March 1, 2010.
ODEBRECHT ARCHIVES américo vermelho

04
Having 5,000 members from 35 countries presents Odebrecht Libya
with a major challenge: maintaining cultural unity
ODEBRECHT
I N F O R M A
07
08
A professional education program for farm machine operators
grooms multifunctional professionals trained to preserve the environment
ETH and Brenco merge to form the world's largest sugarcane
bioenergy producer
09
10
14
Its 2009 fundraising campaign enables the Tribute to the Future
Program to benefit over 8,000 people through 12 projects
The CCR Project is the largest investment made in Argentina’s oil
refining industry in the last 10 years
The result of the first PPP for Brazil's sanitation sector, the
marine outfall project in Salvador, Bahia, is nearing completion
Ana Paula Bezerra
de Araújo and
Maurício Ostroer:
members of
Quattor.
Photo by Edu Simões
16
The DUARTE CORRIDOR project in the Dominican Republic will solve
traffic problems in downtown Santo Domingo
19
20
26
30
32
The Odebrecht Foundation marks its 45th anniversary
by reaffirming its commitment to helping build stronger families
The acquisition of Quattor and Sunoco moves Braskem up from 12th
to 8th place in the global petrochemical rankings
At the 2009 Annual Meeting, Odebrecht leaders analyze past
achievements and plan the Group’s future
Odebrecht Knowledge Communities are consolidated as a
permanent forum of exchange and debate for the Group’s members
A TV program featuring members at the jobsites is among the
winners of the 2009 Highlight Awards
sections
03
12
24
25
35
48
in the loop
interview
profile
people
newsroom notes
argument
34
38
40
42
44
46
In Salvador, Bahia, 161 members receive medals for 25 years of
service at Odebrecht
Dredging the Port of Rio Grande’s access channel makes the
facility even more strategic for Mercosur
The Rio de Janeiro Metro officially opens its first station in
Ipanema, carrying over 80,000 passengers per day
Equipment for Braskem’s green ethylene plant arrives at the
Triunfo Petrochemical Complex via the Port of Rio Grande
OOG grooms young and seasoned professionals for growth in an
industry marked by technological advances
Schools In Action, a volunteer-based project, is being expanded
in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro State

02
Industrial growth
This issue of Odebrecht Informa was supposed to be 32 pages long, but
due to the large number of accomplishments Odebrecht’s teams have made
in the last two months, it has grown to 48 pages so we can inform our readers
about the most important milestones that took place during that period.
The Group is growing organically in all its business areas. However, in the
last 60 days, the most significant events occurred in the industrial sector. The
highlights are the acquisition of Quattor Petroquímica in Brazil and Sunoco
Chemicals in the United States. Aimed at making the Brazilian petrochemical
industry one of the strongest in the world, these acquisitions have moved
Braskem up from third to first place in the production of thermoplastics in the
Americas, and from twelfth to eighth in the global petrochemical rankings.
The news about major investments in the industrial sector also includes
ETH Bioenergy. Odebrecht’s bioenergy subsidiary and Brenco – Companhia
Brasileira de Energia Renovável have announced a merger that created the
world’s largest producer of ethanol and electricity from sugarcane.
These landmark events attest that Odebrecht has firmly established its
presence in the industrial sector. Although the Group started out as a service
provider, its industrial operations have grown vigorously since it began
investing in petrochemicals in 1979. This growth got a major boost in the
last decade through the establishment of Braskem in 2002 and the creation
of ETH in 2007.
During Odebrecht’s Annual Meeting in December 2009 (also featured in this
issue of Odebrecht Informa), Marcelo Odebrecht, President and CEO of Odebrecht
S.A., presented the Group’s Vision for 2020. The acquisition of Quattor and
Sunoco and the merger of ETH and Brenco have made a decisive contribution
to ensuring that this will be a highly promising decade.
www.odebrechtonline.com.br
Videoreporters
> Works at sea for the Salvador
Marine Outfall
> Social programs in São Roque
do Paraguaçu
> Caia na Rede: digital inclusion
for workers and local communities
> ETBE: the bioadditive that fuels
environmental gains
Online archives
> Read back issues of Odebrecht
Informa, the Odebrecht S.A. Annual
Report since 2002, the Odebrecht
Group’s Annual Meetings since 2002
and milestone publications (Special
Issue on Social Programs, 60 years
of the Odebrecht Group, 40 Years
of the Odebrecht Foundation and
10 Years of Odeprev)
ODEBRECHT
Founded in 1944, the Odebrecht
Group is a Brazilian organization
made up of diversified businesses
with global operations and
world-class standards of quality.
Its 92,000 members are present
in the Americas, the Caribbean,
Africa, Asia and Europe.
Responsible for Corporate Communication
at Construtora Norberto Odebrecht S.A. Márcio Polidoro
Responsible for Editorial Programs
at Construtora Norberto Odebrecht S.A. Karolina Gutiez
Business Area Coordinators
Nelson Letaif Chemicals & Petrochemicals • Miucha Andrade Ethanol & Sugar • José Cláudio Grossi Oil &
Gas • Daelcio Freitas Environmental Engineering • Sergio Kertész Real Estate Developments
• Coordinator at Odebrecht Foundation Vivian Barbosa
Editorial Coordination Versal Editores
Editor-in-Chief José Enrique Barreiro • Executive Editor Cláudio Lovato Filho • English Translation by H.
Sabrina Gledhill • Art/Graphic Production Rogério Nunes • Photo Editor Holanda Cavalcanti
• Infographics Adilson Secco • Illustrations Gilberto Marchi • Electronic Publishing Maria Celia Olivieri
Printing 1,800 copies • Pre-Press/Printing by Pancrom
Editorial Offices: Rio de Janeiro +55 21 2239-1778 • São Paulo +55 11 3641-4767
versal@versal.com.br
Originally published in Portuguese. Also available in Spanish.

03
Acervo odebrecht
REPRODUCTION
Maritime terminal completed in Peru
Begun in August 2006, construction of the Maritime Terminal for the LNG
(liquefied natural gas) Export Plant for Perú LNG, on the border between
the Peruvian provinces of Chincha and Cañete, was completed in March.
Thanks to this terminal, run by the CBD Melchorita Consortium (formed by
Odebrecht, ENI, Saipem and Jan de Nul), Peru is now a natural gas exporter.
Located 170 km south of Lima, the nation’s capital, the terminal was built
by 2,000 workers. It can produce up to 4.4 million tonnes of LNG per year
and handle ships capable of carrying up to 170,000 cu.m of gas. The first
shipment of LNG will leave the port by early June 2010.
Angolan leaders in the making
Signed in 2007, a partnership agreement between Odebrecht and the Government
of Angola has enabled 10 young Angolans to study Civil Engineering and Architecture
at Universidade Salvador (Unifacs) in the Brazilian state of Bahia. The goal
of this partnership with Odebrecht is to prepare strategic Angolan members to
work in their home country. On January 14, at Odebrecht Angola’s headquarters in
Luanda, the students familiarized themselves with the performance of the entire
Group and the company’s operations in their country, talked with members of the
People and Organization program, reported on their experiences in Brazil and
expressed their hopes and expectations. The students will graduate between 2011
and 2012, after which they will join Odebrecht Angola. Two of them are already
taking part in a compulsory internship at the company.
Book launch in Venezuela
Grooming
teams in
Mozambique
The first class of mobile
equipment operators for
the Moatize Coal Project in
Mozambique graduated in
December. Eighty members
were certified to operate
mobile equipment such as
wheel loaders, excavators
and bulldozers. The professional
education program
that resulted in their training
and certification aimed
to improve the workers’ performance
and make operations
safer and more efficient.
“There was a palpable
feeling of recognition and
professional development in
the air when the certificates
were presented,” says Paulo
Avena, the Odebrecht officer
Responsible for People
in Mozambique. “We are
more motivated now,” says
Backhoe Operator Salvador
Mulaphiha.
Odebrecht Venezuela in December launched a book about the past and present
of one of Venezuela’s largest indigenous peoples, the Wayuus, titled Los
Wayuu – Na Wayuukana. Published in Spanish and Wayuunaiki, the Wayuu
language, the book was written by educator, author and translator Jorge
Enrique Pocaterra González. This is the first work Odebrecht has published
in an indigenous language. The photos are by Américo Vermelho and Andrés
Manner. The Wayuu people were the chief beneficiaries of the Maracaibo
Plain Socialist Agrarian Project, an expansion of the El Diluvio-Palmar Irrigation
Project, which Odebrecht built in the Maracaibo region. “Our aim was
to produce an ethnographic record of high quality in terms of information
and esthetics. I believe we have achieved it,” says the officer Responsible for
Planning, Administration & Finance at Odebrecht Venezuela, José Cláudio
Daltro, the general editor of the book.

04 libya
A culture and
universal language
odebrecht informa

In Libya, Odebrecht is taking on the challenge of maintaining the
cultural unity of 5,000 company members from 35 different countries
written by Leonardo Maia / photos by Américo Vermelho
After just three years in Libya,
Odebrecht has built a virtual Tower
of Babel in this Arab nation. There
are over 5,000 members from 35
nationalities working here, building
two of the nation’s largest infrastructure
projects: the expansion of Tripoli
International Airport and the Third
Ring Road in the nation’s capital.
Made up of people from five continents,
many of whom have joined the
Group for the first time, Odebrecht
Libya is creating an opportunity to
groom a new generation. The biggest
challenge is maintaining cultural unity
in a unique environment.
When hiring and mobilizing teams
to work in Libya, Odebrecht decided
to bet on diversity and youth. At the
moment, 87 expats under the age of
30 are taking on their first challenges
in northern Africa. They come from
13 different countries, 40% are working
on their first job in the Group,
and virtually all of them were born
in non-Muslim countries. They are
working alongside seasoned professionals
from countries as vastly different
as Canada, Vietnam, Ecuador
and Egypt.
“Libya is an incredible laboratory
for grooming this new generation
with the support of Knowledgeable
People in leadership positions.
This environment contains many of
the elements that are required to
accelerate young people’s personal
and professional growth,” explains
Daniel Villar, Odebrecht’s CEO for
Libya. Alexandre Del Sálvio, a young
engineer from southern Brazil who
has been in Tripoli since the projects
began, agrees: “Things happen much
faster here. It makes you mature
faster. One year in Libya is like three
or four in Brazil.”
Alexandre’s wife, Janaíne, who works
in the People and Organization area for
the Third Ring Road project, already
feels that she has adapted to Libyan
culture, but she can still cite a few of
Among the 35 nationalities of
Odebrecht members in Libya,
the most numerous is Thai (more
than 1,800 people), followed
by Libyan and Vietnamese.
Opposite, Alexandre Del Sálvio with
colleagues Khiria Mohamed (left)
and Ebtihal Salem at the Tripoli
Third Ring Road jobsite; right, Sara
Fathi Omar, Janaíne Del Sálvio,
Kholod Mohamed Bajagni and Farida
Kadah: investing in diversity
odebrecht informa

In the Arab world it is
common for most of the
operational staff to come from
other countries. Odebrecht
prioritizes local Arabs for
technical positions and jobs
requiring college degrees.
For Libyans, rejecting
food is considered rude.
During the period of fasting
called Ramadan, Westerners
should avoid eating in front
of Arabs.
Iraqui member Hussein Al Khashab (green jacket) with his workmates:
“Sometimes I can’t tell the Brazilians and Arabs apart”
the challenges she faces. “The concept
of leisure and recreation is different
here. Alcohol is banned, and there are
no night clubs, large shopping malls
or shows. It also feels strange to work
Saturdays and Sundays and only get
Fridays off,” she adds. She has received
some taunts for going out without a
headscarf. “We have to respect the
local culture and not wear short skirts
in public, for example. But then again,
if someone wore a burkah in Passo
Fundo [a rural town in Rio Grande do
Sul, Brazil], everybody there would find
that weird too.”
According to Hussein Al Khashab,
an Iraqi who joined Odebrecht in 2003
and previously worked in the United
Arab Emirates and Djibouti, the
Brazilians are adapting quickly. “I can’t
help noticing that some people are
struggling with the language, but the
influence of Arab immigration to Brazil
helps a lot. Sometimes I can’t tell the
Brazilians and Arabs apart. They look
very much alike.” Fadel Eswedi, 28, is
working on the Tripoli Airport project.
He, too, believes the Brazilians will
soon fit right in: “I think that the best
way to understand someone else’s
culture is by talking to them. The
Brazilians are curious and are always
asking questions.”
Disseminating the concepts and values
of the Odebrecht Entrepreneurial
Technology (TEO) has been a big
challenge in Libya, due to the large
number of recently hired members.
The pursuit of cultural unity involves
programs such as the Introduction to
the Odebrecht Culture and Routes of
Knowledge, which have groomed over
350 expats. Foreigners also receive
plenty of reading materials on Libya
before they arrive. Now, the plan is to
ensure that local members also have
fast-track access to TEO. “Libyans
who are leaders and speak English are
taking part in the same development
programs as the expats, and have
assimilated our philosophy in a natural
and positive way. When it comes to
mid-level and operational members,
for whom Arabic is required, we are
training a local member to help us
imbue them with TEO,” says Ciro
Barbosa, the officer Responsible for
Planning, Administration and Finance.
Based on his experience of people
development programs in Djibouti,
Hussein Al Khashab feels that initiatives
like these are important.
“Odebrecht has an exceptional environment
and values that few other
companies share. At our company, we
take a person’s culture into account,
along with their skills and experience.”
Alexandre Del Sálvio, who took part
in the Introduction to the Odebrecht
Culture Program in 2008, believes that
TEO is catching on. “Members with
years of experience are being mobilized,
and now we are seeing TEO in
practice. One of the points that most
attracted my attention is the identification
of one’s replacement. It’s a different
kind of mindset that invests in
younger people,” he observes.
But the biggest challenge of all may
be influencing the Libyans to take on
life and career plans with the company.
According to the local culture, work
is just the fourth priority for many,
after religion, family and friends.
Some, like Fadel Eswedi, are showing
signs of change. “If I got a job offer
from another company, I’d give it a lot
of thought. But I believe that I have
more opportunities at Odebrecht. I’ve
learned to deal and live with different
cultures. Major projects like the Tripoli
Airport expansion are rare in Libya. I
have to make the most of it.”
odebrecht informa

professional education
07
Driven to succeed
A course for farm equipment operators creates growth opportunities
for professionals in the ethanol and sugar industry
written by Guilherme Oliveira / photo by Sérgio Alberti
Rony Wilton: "We're being
groomed for leadership"
“I’m going to operate a machine
like that one day,” thought Rony
Wilton Santana when he came across
a sugarcane harvester on his first
day on the job in May 2008. He was
planting sugarcane manually at ETH
Bioenergy’s Santa Luzia Unit in Nova
Alvorada do Sul, in the Brazilian state
of Mato Grosso do Sul. Seven months
later, he was assigned to operate a
planting machine. “I’d heard that there
were classes and jobs available, so I
worked hard to get myself noticed,”
he recalls. In January 2010, Rony
became one of the 206 students taking
ETH Bioenergy’s five-month Farm
Equipment Operators’ Training Course.
After 500 class hours, he will become
a Harvester Operator at the Santa
Luzia Unit.
The company has invested roughly
BRL 150,000 in this program, which
offers professional education programs
for tractor drivers and planter and
harvester operators. “They will be outstanding
multi-functional professionals
who are aware of safety and environmental
issues. Their studies go beyond
operations to include the mechanics of
these machines,” observes Luiz Antonio
Borges, the Unit’s Agricultural Manager.
The course covers several different
areas, ranging from planting to harvesting
sugarcane. “Investments like this
are essential to keep pace with ETH’s
growth and become even more competitive,”
says Luiz Antonio. “It’s a complex
program that motivates and challenges
people. It is a fantastic opportunity for
students and hugely beneficial for the
company, because it reduces maintenance
costs and raises safety awareness
to prevent accidents, among other
things,” he adds.
At the Rio Claro Unit in Caçú, Goiás,
another group of 40 students is taking
a similar course. This is just the first
step in the company’s schedule of people
development programs, which produced
1,170 trained members in 2009
through courses for Farm Equipment
Operators, Industrial Operators and
Maintenance Technicians. Rony Wilton
is already planning the next steps in
his career. “We will be better qualified
and able to work in different areas. We
have a career now, and we’re being
groomed for leadership,” says the
student, who will reap in June what he
sowed in 2008.
odebrecht informa

808
bioenergy
ODEBRECHT ARCHIVES
Philippe Reichstul, President of Brenco (left), and José Carlos Grubisich:
optimistic and prepared to take on major challenges
World leadership
The merger of ETH and Brenco results in the creation of the world's biggest
producer of ethanol and electricity from sugarcane
written by Miucha Andrade
February 18, a Thursday, is a
watershed date in the history of
ETH Bioenergy. Following extensive
negotiations and four months after
the memorandum of understanding
was signed, ETH and the Brazilian
renewable energy company Brenco
– Companhia Brasileira de Energia
Renovável announced a merger that
has resulted in the creation of the
world’s largest producer of ethanol
and electricity from biomass (in this
case, sugarcane).
By 2012, ETH will have increased
its production capacity to 3 billion
liters of ethanol. It will also be generating
2,700 GWh of electric power,
the equivalent of the Brazilian state
of Paraíba’s consumption, including
216 counties and 3 million people
served. Thanks to a total investment
of BRL 7.3 billion, the new company
will reach the mark of 10,000 members
by 2012, adding 2,400 people to
its payroll compared with 2010.
According to the merger agreement,
Odebrecht S.A., in partnership
with Sojitz, now owns 65% of ETH
Bioenergy, and Brenco’s shareholders
own 35%.
Before the event was officially
announced in the press, all ETH
members received a letter and
a video with the following message
from ETH CEO José Carlos
Grubisich: “This is a joyous occasion
for all of us to celebrate. This process
has speeded up our growth plans
and established us in the market so
we can take on fresh challenges.”
The optimistic tone of this statement
demonstrates that there is a
lot of work to be done. It includes
the priority of getting two new units
online by the end of 2010 and two
more in 2011 in the states of Goiás,
Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do
Sul, while staying on budget and
schedule.
Questions about the next stages
of the merger were answered at an
event held on February 18, involving
leaders of both companies. The
message was clear: “Let’s start
working together as of tomorrow. If
you need to make a decision, take it
and don’t wait, because there’s no
time to lose,” José Carlos said, adding
a final word of thanks: “I would
like to thank all of you for your drive,
determination and commitment of
time and energy. We only managed
to complete this operation because
you have done an outstanding job and
demonstrated the quality of our management
and our assets.”
odebrecht informa

Growing contributions to the Tribute to the Future Program make it
possible to carry out 12 projects that will benefit over 8,000 people
written by Gabriela Vasconcellos / photo by Diego Costa
corporate social responsibility
Making dreams come true
09
The total figures for the Tribute
to the Future's performance during
its last campaign over the course of
2009 include 1,620 investors and BRL
2,374,765.62 in funds raised. That
amount will make it possible to carry
out 12 projects that will benefit 8,243
people. The highlight for the year was
the increased participation of Group
members (see infographic). Miguel
Gradin, CEO of Odebrecht Óleo e Gás
(OOG), the Group’s Oil & Gas business
area, is emphatic: “Leaders must raise
their team members’ awareness that
corporate social responsibility is a mission
that all of us share and is fully in
line with our culture.”
Paul Altit, CEO of Odebrecht
Realizações (OR), the Group’s Real
Estate arm, believes that activities like
contributing to Tribute to the Future
should be part of each Group member’s
life and career plan. “We have the
Odebrecht Foundation, which is prepared
to identify projects to which we can contribute,
so this presents us with a unique
opportunity. Tribute to the Future is an
effective way to align our professional
and personal responsibilities and help
improve the quality of life of underprivileged
people in our country.”
The feature that sets this program
apart, in the opinion of Braskem
Technology and Innovation Director Luis
Fernando Cassinelli, is its organization.
“I’ve seen several initiatives aimed at
improving access to education in lowincome
communities, but none are as
disciplined as this one, nor do they get
such impressive results.”
In 2009, the Conpar joint venture,
which is expanding and upgrading the
Presidente Getúlio Vargas Refinery
(REPAR) in the state of Paraná, took
the lead with 356 investors. Antônio
Costa, the Odebrecht Project Director
for REPAR, observes: “That outcome
is down to everyone’s involvement and
awareness of the importance of this program,
and thanks to our team’s strong
spirit of social commitment.” Clovis
Faleiro, who is responsible for running
the program, believes that Tribute to the
Future’s strategy has ensured that its
activities have a capillary effect. “Leaders
and team members perceive the results
and adopt the program. This explains
the number of investors and signals that
much remains to be done.”
to find out more about the
PROJECTS that will be sponsored in
2010 (in Portuguese) visit:
www.tributoaofuturo.org.br
Young people participating in Odebrecht Foundationbacked
programs in the Southern Bahia Lowlands
odebrecht informa

10
retranca argentina
The Ensenada Industrial Complex in La Plata, where YPF’s CCR plant will be built: cleaner fuel
A national benchmark
Under construction in La Plata, YPF’s plant is the outcome of the
biggest investment in oil refining in the last decade
written by Cláudio Lovato Filho / photos by Guilherme Afonso
This is a special time in the history
of the Argentine oil industry.
The first continuous catalyst regeneration
reformer (CCR) is under
construction in that country. This
new facility will convert exportable
surpluses of naphtha, normally of
little commercial value, into higherquality
fuels for which there is a
growing demand in Argentina. The
plant is being built for YPF S.A. at
its Ensenada Industrial Complex
in the city of La Plata, 60 km from
Buenos Aires. It will not only benefit
the market but be a plus for the
environment, because it will make
it possible to produce cleaner fuel.
Scheduled for completion by
July 2012, this unit represents
the biggest investment made in
Argentina’s oil refining industry in
the last 10 years: USD 348 million.
It will produce 200,000 tonnes (metric
tons) per year of aromatic compounds
that will be combined with
naphtha as additives. As a result,
production of super and premium
naphtha will grow by an additional
900 million liters per year.
Odebrecht is building the project,
which began in November 2009.
At the moment, the company’s
teams are engaged in the detailed
engineering in Buenos Aires and
São Paulo and managing the procurement
of equipment on a global
scale. Meanwhile, the surveying
work is underway in La Plata. In
Buenos Aires, Odebrecht and YPF
members are sharing the same
office. More than that, they are
working as one team.
“This project is creating a benchmark
in this country,” says Odebrecht
Project Director Pablo Brottier. “The
new unit will make it possible to
increase fuel quantity and quality. We
believe that it will also serve as an
incentive for other companies in this
industry, which will have to keep up
with YPF’s leadership position.”
"This project is creating a benchmark in this country" [ Pablo Brottier ]
odebrecht informa

A native of Mendoza, the home
of the finest Argentine wines, civil
engineer Pablo Brottier has been
with Odebrecht for three years.
His relationship with the company
began when he was based in São
Paulo. He is pleased and motivated
to have been given an opportunity to
work for a company where he feels
at home while taking part in a project
that is important for Argentina’s
growth. Last January, Pablo got
a chance to revisit São Paulo and
participate in an important event
for the execution of the CCR plant
project.
At a workshop tailored specifically
for the project and organized
by Odebrecht, over 40 participants,
including company experts
working in Brazil on similar
projects, exchanged information
and experiences with Odebrecht
Argentina and YPF. The day-long
event was enhanced by a site visit
to Odebrecht’s projects at the
Presidente Getúlio Vargas Refinery
(REPAR) in Araucaria, Paraná,
and the Henrique Lage Refinery
(REVAP) in São José dos Campos,
São Paulo. “It was a highly synergistic
experience that will enable us
to harness Odebrecht’s knowhow to
make any improvements the project
requires,” observes Pablo Brottier.
One of the workshop participants
was electrical engineer Marcelo
Broccoli, Project and Construction
manager for YPF’s Engineering
Directorate. Working alongside
Pablo, he is leading the implementation
of the new unit, taking
on challenges such as the installation
of massive structures (see
infographic) in a fully operational
industrial complex with limited
La Plata: 60 km from Buenos Aires, the city has a population of 550,000
space, while retrofitting five other
plants and installing the connections
between them. “We have an
integrated team here that shares a
THE NEW UNIT'S MAIN FEATURES
common objective and has complementary
skills. We are going to
make the CCR plant a model for
Argentina.”
The CCR plant’s main equipment includes two 11-MW
centrifugal compressors, a four-chamber furnace with a
35-million kcal/h capacity, a regeneration module, a PSA
(purification unit for the hydrogen produced), a reactor and a
plate heat exchanger. The project also includes a 115-m-high
flare and existing units will be retrofitted: a Naphtha
Hydrotreatment Unit, an Aromatics Extraction Unit and an
Aromatics Fractionating Unit, all of which will be interconnected.
The plant will have a production capacity of 120 cu.m/hour of
reformed naphtha (used to increase gasoline octane) and 1,000
lb/h of catalytic regeneration (for hydrogen purification).
odebrecht informa

12 interview
Odebrecht Informa – What’s it like to
be a dam builder?
José Bonifácio Pinto Júnior – It’s
a nomadic life, but very gratifying,
because I can see the results of the
work of a terrific team from the beginning
to end of every hydro we build.
I’d taken part in numerous projects in
several states before I went back to
Rondônia to build the Santo Antônio
plant, which is the biggest I’ve ever
worked on. In the 1980s, I helped
build the Samuel hydroelectric plant
on the Jamari River, a tributary of
the Madeira, near Porto Velho. My
wife, Luce, is from Guajará-Mirim,
Rondônia. I have two daughters,
Alessandra and Rebeca. The eldest,
Alessandra, has a degree in business
administration and was born in Porto
Velho. Rebeca was born in Guayaquil,
Ecuador, when I was working on the
Chagón Cerecita irrigation project.
A go-getter
Born in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, engineer José Bonifácio
Pinto Júnior has set up camp in various parts of the country and now
leads the army of more than 10,000 workers building the Santo Antônio
hydroelectric plant in Porto Velho, Rondônia. Bonifácio completed 33
years with the Group in January. An Odebrecht CEO and the officer
Responsible for the hydro plant project, he received on December 22
the Marshal Rondon Order of Merit Medal from Governor Ivo Cassol in
recognition of his work and the company’s efforts on behalf of the state
of Rondônia. Energy, jobs, development and quality of life are some
of the benefits the project is bringing to the region. Bonifácio sees the
tribute he received as a reflection of the local community’s support
for the hydro – one of Odebrecht’s goals since the preliminary stages
leading to the execution of this project.
written by Luiz Carlos Ramos / photo by Roberto Rosa
OI – What’s your relationship with
Porto Velho like today?
Bonifácio – It involves constant presence
and attention. I spend all my time
shuttling between three cities: I keep
an eye on the works in Santo Antônio,
I have an office in Rio de Janeiro, and
spend the weekends with my family in
Belo Horizonte. And, no, I haven’t forgotten
my hometown, Recife: I’m a fan
of the Náutico soccer club, which was
unfortunately demoted to Series B of
the Brazilian Leagues, but we’re sure
that it’s just a temporary setback.
OI – When did you begin dedicating
your attention to the Santo Antônio
project?
Bonifácio – It all started back in 2001,
long before we broke ground. Back
then, Brazil was facing an energy crisis,
but a lot of people didn’t think it was
worthwhile to harness the potential
odebrecht informa

of rivers in the Amazon to produce
energy. The initial studies indicated
that four plants should be built, and
two were approved. The environmental
license was issued in July 2007,
and on December 10, Consórcio
Madeira Energia, the consortium led
by Odebrecht and Furnas, tendered the
lowest average rate for energy generated
and won the auction for the Santo
Antônio Plant concession. The Santo
Antônio Energia company was formed
to operate the plant for 30 years. The
Santo Antônio joint-venture contractor
led by Odebrecht, and also including
the Consórcio Santo Antônio Civil
(Odebrecht and Andrade Gutierrez), is
building it, along with Gicom – Grupo
Industrial do Complexo do Rio Madeira
(Alstom, Bardella, Voith Siemens,
Andritz and Areva), which supplies the
equipment, and Odebrecht Engineering
& Construction, which is responsible for
the electromechanical installation. We
broke ground in September 2008, and
the work has been going incredibly fast.
OI – Is it going as quickly as originally
expected?
Bonifácio – Absolutely. As planned,
the 44 bulb turbines should be ready
by 2015. But by December 2011, it will
already be possible to use the first turbine
to generate energy, according to
our advance delivery schedule.
OI – How is the project going?
Bonifácio – We are working on both
banks of the river, prioritizing the
powerhouse on the right bank, where
the first turbines will go online by
December 2011, while building the
spillway on the left bank, which will
ensure that the river is diverted by May
2011. The entire infrastructure of the
project has already been built, including
the industrial kitchen, which serves
"Since 2001, we have
engaged in dialog
with officials, the
general public and the
riverside communities"
[ José Bonifácio ]
21,000 meals a day, and the Worker
Service Center (CAT), which includes 15
hospital beds.
OI – How did you overcome the initial
resistance to the project?
Bonifácio – Through dialog and a long
process of awareness raising among all
the different actors involved in the project.
Since 2001, we at Odebrecht have
engaged in dialog with officials, the
general public and the riverside communities.
We’ve demonstrated at public
hearings and meetings that the environment
will not suffer a major impact.
Because we will be using bulb turbines,
the dam will be lower, and therefore
the area to be flooded will only cover
217 sq.km, of which 164 sq.km include
the riverbed. We offer compensation to
families that live in areas affected by the
works and make sure to preserve the
local wildlife, plant life and history.
OI – Odebrecht launched the Acreditar
Program in Porto Velho in January
2008 to offer job skills to local workers.
How is that program going?
Bonifácio – It’s been an exciting
success. Of the 10,000 workers currently
employed by this project, 83%
are from Acreditar. They now have
a new profession. And over 10% are
women. The program was praised
by President Luiz Inácio Lula da
Silva and is now being replicated at
The Santo Antônio Hydro under construction
Odebrecht construction sites throughout
Brazil.
OI – And the program even had a “kid,”
Acreditar Júnior.
Bonifácio – Acreditar Júnior is designed
for adolescents between the ages of 14
and 17, the children of Consórcio Santo
Antônio Civil members. More than 400
teenage boys have received uniforms,
backpacks and educational materials
and are starting to take classes and
undergo training, provided that they
are at least in the sixth year of primary
school and don’t drop out. They receive
half a minimum salary per month and
take part in an exercise in citizenship.
OI – What is the main lesson you’ve
learned from this project and the others
you’ve helped build in the last 33
years?
Bonifácio – I’ve learned the lesson
of respecting human beings, which
Mr. Norberto Odebrecht has taught
to every generation in the Group. It is
the lesson of trusting people and their
desire to serve others and develop. I
have fond memories of the time when
I joined the company in 1977, through
its subsidiary in Recife I started out as a
trainee when I was in the fourth year of
Civil Engineering School at the Federal
University at Pernambuco (UFPE). I
learned a lot from my leaders, particularly
the late supervisor Claudionor.
odebrecht informa

14 sanitation
Challenges
on land and sea
As it nears completion,
construction of the
Boca do Rio Marine
Outfall in Salvador,
Bahia, enters a highly
complex phase
written by Rodrigo Vilar
photos by Nilton Souza
One of the most important sanitation
works built in the northeastern
Brazilian city of Salvador in recent
decades, the Jaguaribe Ocean
Disposal System is in its final stages
of construction. Odebrecht’s teams
in December sank the last section of
the offshore pipeline and completed
the onland section of the outfall.
Better known as the Boca do Rio
Marine Outfall, this project is an
initiative of the Brazilian Federal
Government and the State of Bahia
through the state water company
Empresa Baiana de Águas e
Saneamento (EMBASA). It includes
a 1.3-km onland tunnel, a pumping
plant, a pressurized main, and a
pre-treatment plant, as well as the
3.6-km marine outfall per se. This is
the first PPP (public-private partnership)
project ever carried out through
a public tender in Brazil’s sanitation
sector. Foz do Brasil, an Odebrecht
subsidiary, is the concession company
responsible for managing and
exploiting the system for 15 years.
Despite its size, during nearly two
years of construction this massive
project has gone almost unnoticed
by the general public. The onland
section has made little impact on
odebrecht informa

the city’s routine thanks to the pipejacking
equipment imported from
Germany, considered the best in the
world for this type of operation. It
uses an automated system that drills
with extremely low impact, automatically
embedding concrete pipe. “We
have drilled underneath streets and
homes without interrupting traffic,
interfering very little with people’s
daily lives,” explains Jorge Oke, the
officer Responsible for Production on
this project.
There has been no shortage of
challenges. During the onland stage
of drilling, for example, the drill’s
The moment the last section of pipe
was installed in the Bay of All Saints
and, in the smaller photo, a detail
of the materials used, made from
high-density polyethylene
progress was delayed by highly
resistant rock. “Normally we could
drill 50 to 80 mm per minute, but we
slowed down to 8 to 10 mm because
of the rock. As a result, there were
continual delays and excessive wear
to the cutting disks, which had to
be replaced constantly,” says the
Project Director. Despite the obstacles,
the team’s 280 members managed
to keep the project on schedule.
“We have a mix of top-quality
seasoned veterans and a new crop of
young people with tremendous ability
and a desire to learn,” says Roberto.
Installing the final section of a
total of four stretches of HDPE (highdensity
polyethylene) pipe in the
ocean was a highly complex operation.
The pipe was manufactured
and coupled together in the Bay of
Aratu, inside the Bay of All Saints,
where each section was pressurized
and transported like a giant 900-m
floating tube. The trip takes 24
hours, on average, covering 52 km,
a coordinated effort involving six to
eight tugboats and five support vessels
that can only be done at specific
times, under the right sea and wind
conditions. Based on his experience
of installing five other outfalls,
Roberto Santos explains, “Out on the
water, we have to respect my friend
Neptune, call the sea ‘sir’ and not try
to be better than him. If he says you
can’t work, don’t work. Fortunately,
we completed the operation successfully.”
According to EMBASA, when the
outfall begins operations in April,
as scheduled, sewage capacity will
reach 90% in Salvador and Lauro de
Freitas, in the state capital’s metropolitan
region. This will ensure that
Salvador stays on the list of cities
with the best sanitation ratings in
Brazil.
“Initiatives aimed at forming
public-private partnerships should
be preceded by extensive studies to
determine the priority and need for
the works involved, and whether it
is convenient to build them through
a PPP. It is important to know that
we can count on Foz do Brasil, particularly
after the positive experience
we are having on the SDO Jaguaribe
project,” observes Abelardo de
Oliveira Filho, President and CEO of
EMBASA.
According to Raul Ribeiro, Director
of Foz do Brasil–Jaguaribe, the company
responsible for operating the
system: “Through this public-private
partnership, we will transform experience
and complementary skills into
benefits for the community.”
odebrecht informa

16 dominican republic
Adios and good
riddance
The Duarte Corridor road system will cut down
on traffic jams in downtown Santo Domingo
written by Humberto Werneck / photos by Holanda Cavalcanti
Opposite page, Daniel
de los Santos: traffic jams
in the city center are a major
headache. In this photo, Duarte
Corridor roadworks: traffic
is well organized during the
construction phase
The owner of a van that is his main
source of income, Daniel de los Santos
lives 14 km from downtown Santo
Domingo. On weekends, when traffic
is light, it takes him no more than 20
minutes to drive there. But on weekdays,
the trip can take an hour and a
half. The problem, he explains, is the
tapones, or traffic jams. But Daniel’s
headaches will soon be over thanks
to the Duarte Corridor road system,
which Odebrecht and its partner
Ingeniería Estrella are building in the
center of the Dominican Republic’s
capital city.
This USD 204-million project, including
USD 100 million from Brazil’s
National Bank for Economic and Social
Development (BNDES), involves the
construction of six overpasses and
three tunnels. Ground was broken in
July 2009, and the first two overpasses
will be delivered by May. According
to Daniel, that alone will shave 30
minutes off his nightmare commute.
“When the entire project is finished by
the end of next year, motorists will be
able to get from the airport to the city
center – a 30-km trip – almost without
a single stop light,” says Project
Director Luiz Sérgio Ferraz da Costa.
Odebrecht’s first project in the capital
of the Dominican Republic, where
it has been present since 2002, the
Duarte Corridor is also the first public
works contract the company has won
in that country through an international
public tender. It runs from East
to West, and consists of two routes:
Kennedy Avenue, for traffic coming in
from Santiago, the country’s secondlargest
city, which will get four new
overpasses; and 27 de Febrero Avenue,
where two 500-meter overpasses will
be built.
Building urban roadworks of this
magnitude in an area traveled by
200,000 vehicles per day involves
major challenges. To surmount them,
the joint-venture contractor led by
Odebrecht has adopted procedures
never before seen in that country. It
hired a traffic consulting firm, Tectran,
from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and mobilized
an information campaign. In addition
to publishing ads, the company sent
teams out into the streets to answer
questions, hand out fliers and engage
the public in dialog, since the local community
was naturally concerned about
odebrecht informa

how the roadworks would affect their
daily lives. Signs and signaling have also
been installed to guide motorists while
the works are in progress.
It is working like a charm. “Traffic is
better organized in the vicinity of the
roadworks than in other parts of the
city,” observes Manuel Estrella, the
owner of the construction firm that
bears his name, which was a concrete
supplier for the company before it
became an Odebrecht partner. “I’m
learning a lot,” says Estrella, who says
his first surprise was the amount of
time his Brazilian colleagues devoted
to planning the project. One of his
younger co-workers, engineer Victor
Collado, 25, the officer Responsible
for the Production Program for the
Duarte Corridor project, announces:
“One of my goals is to encapsulate
Odebrecht’s culture and work philosophy
and take them to Estrella.” Victor
Díaz Rúa, the Minister of Public Works
and Communications, whose ministry
is the client for this project, notes:
“The thing that makes Odebrecht an
admired company in the Dominican
Republic is quality, not just in construction
but in how the project is
handled. It is characterized by high
standards of organization and safety.”
Marcos Machado, the Project
Director responsible for winning the
tender and mobilizing the project,
says that for Odebrecht the challenge
it faced in the Duarte Corridor project
was more about image than technology.
The company is involved in other
initiatives that are also helping burnish
Odebrecht’s public image, such as
restoring part of the Juan Pablo Duarte
Olympic Center, built for the 2003
Pan-American Games. An agreement
between the Public Works and Sports
ministries has made it possible for the
odebrecht informa

joint venture to set up its campsite in a
small part of the center’s grounds. In
return, the contractor will restore 14
basketball and indoor soccer courts,
as well as a baseball diamond in
the area. “We have already delivered
four,” observes Odebrecht’s Humberto
Sampaio, the Administration and
Finance Manager. The company has
also refurbished the Military Security
Department’s barracks, which stand
next door to the playing courts.
Cláudio Medeiros, the officer
Responsible for the Administrative-
Financial Program on CEO Marco
Cruz’s team is running the program
that provides professional education
and job skills to local workers. Since
2005, the company has been prospecting
with a fine sieve for young professionals,
including engineer Jensson
Nina, the officer Responsible for
Production, who was one of the first
to join Odebrecht through the Young
Partners program. “Here you are
encouraged to gain the independence
and autonomy to make decisions,”
says Jensson.
Odebrecht currently has 52 Young
Partners in the country (seven of
whom are working on the Duarte
Corridor), all of whom are Dominicans.
Engineer Analie García Pena, 22, is
working in the Planning area of the
Duarte Corridor project. In her assessment,
“At this company, our colleagues
are interested in sharing knowledge.”
During the most recent selection
process, begun in October 2009, the
company chose 327 candidates for
the program and may hire 21 of them.
“The selection process is the seed we
are planting, and soon we will harvest
the fruits,” says Cláudio Medeiros,
who is clearly enthusiastic about the
prospects.
Mobilizing aid to Haiti
As soon as they heard about the
earthquake that hit Haiti on January
12, Odebrecht teams mobilized
aid for that nation’s people. Based
in the Dominican Republic, which
shares the Island of Hispaniola
with Haiti, Odebrecht joined forces
with the local government and the
Brazilian Embassy. The company
provided five hydraulic excavators,
three wheeled loaders and a tractor
trailer that were sent to Haiti to help
rescue earthquake victims, as well
as medicine, 25 large tents, a thousand
blankets, 565 plastic tarps, 14
gallons of helicopter fuel and tanker
trucks to distribute treated water.
Coordinated by Project Director
Marcos Machado, these efforts also
included helping the aid committee
set up by the Brazilian Embassy
in Santo Domingo with pricing and
logistics for the materials and the
loan of furniture for Brazil’s foreign
ministry staff.
In Miami, Gilberto Neves,
Odebrecht’s CEO for the United
States, coordinated an operation
Odebrecht equipment in
Port-au-Prince: making a contribution
that made it possible to repair the
facilities at Port-au-Prince Airport
in just three weeks through a joint
effort with American Airlines,
which took charge of transporting
people, equipment and materials
there from Florida, the Dominican
Republic and Puerto Rico. A cargo
terminal that had suffered less
damage was converted into an
arrivals terminal, with customs,
immigration, baggage handling systems
and an administrative system.
Another structure that was still
reasonably intact – a three-story
building – became the departure
terminal. In addition to the people
the company had brought in from
other countries, Odebrecht had 30
Haitian professionals on its team,
some of whom had been trained at
a workshop the company set up at
the airport site. By February 19, the
efforts of Odebrecht’s teams had
made it possible for commercial
flights to resume to and from Haiti
for the first time since the tragedy
struck.
odebrecht informa

memory
19
The spirit of the times
The Odebrecht Foundation turns 45 and reaffirms its belief in the
importance of the family for building a better society
written by Gabriela Vasconcellos / photos by Eduardo Moody
The Odebrecht Foundation is
marking its 45th anniversary in 2010
by reaffirming its mission – educating
young people for life through work on
the basis of values and limits – with a
consolidated vision of the future: becoming
the administrator of non-reimbursable
resources and establishing a
model for agricultural, ecological and
sustainable tourism called Agro-Eco
Tourism in the Pratigi Environmental
Protection Area (APA) in the Southern
Bahia Lowlands in northeastern Brazil.
Since 2003, the Foundation has
focused on transforming a stagnant,
underprivileged rural area into a
prosperous and dynamic place by
harnessing its environmental potential
and thereby encouraging young
people to stay in the countryside.
Through investments of over BRL 130
million, the Program for the Integrated
and Sustainable Development of the
Mosaic of APAs in the Southern Bahia
Lowlands has made a major contribution
to creating work opportunities and
increasing local families’ incomes. The
aim is to create a rural middle class.
According to Norberto Odebrecht,
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
of the Odebrecht Foundation, helping
develop a family-based population
has been the main focus for 45 years.
“Our mission is to offer support to
families that will help raise new
generations that are structured and
prepared for growth,” he explains.
Now at the peak of its maturity, the
Foundation is looking to the future.
“People imbued with the spirit of
the times never look at themselves
or backward: they look forward and
work as a team for the benefit of the
community,” underscores Norberto
Odebrecht.
Group of beneficiaries of one
of the Foundation’s projects in the
Southern Bahia Lowlands: helping
create a rural middle class
odebrecht informa

20 competitiveness
Meet Brazil’s new
petrochemical sector
Braskem acquires Quattor
and Sunoco Chemicals and
becomes the number-one
producer of thermoplastic
resins in the Americas
written by Thereza Martins
photos by Edu Simões
odebrecht informa

Quattor unit
in Duque de
Caxias, Rio
de Janeiro:
expansion plans
Braskem’s acquisition of Quattor
Petroquímica in Brazil and Sunoco
Chemicals in the United States has
brought the company to a new level of
competitiveness and size. It has gone
from third to first place among thermoplastic
producers in the Americas.
And in the global rankings for petrochemicals,
it has moved up from
twelfth to eighth place. “The acquisition
of Quattor is part of Braskem's
strategic drive to form a broad alliance
with Petrobras to make the Brazilian
petrochemical industry one of the
strongest in the world,” says Braskem
Entrepreneurial Leader (CEO) Bernardo
Gradin. “As for Sunoco, it represents
our first opportunity to operate outside
Brazil.”
After nearly seven months of negotiations,
the acquisition of Quattor
was finalized in January through an
agreement that, among other things,
will change Braskem’s corporate
structure. Odebrecht and Petrobras
will share the company’s strategic
decisions, and Odebrecht will have a
50.1% share of its voting stock. The
agreement also involves the creation of
a holding company, BRK Investimentos
Petroquímicos, which will own all of
Braskem’s common stock. Carried
out in stages, the merger with Quattor
will be submitted to the Council for
Economic Defense (CADE), Brazil's
antitrust agency, for approval.
Engineer Luiz de Mendonça has
been assigned to head Quattor. He has
been a Braskem member since 2002,
the year the company was founded,
and his last position with the company
was Vice President responsible for the
Polymers Unit. Mendonça now faces
the challenge of leading the consolidation
of Quattor’s business culture and
practices with Braskem’s philosophical
principles. The first step was holding a
number of open meetings with teams
at the industrial plants in Duque de
Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, the ABC region
of São Paulo, and Camaçari, Bahia, as
well as the São Paulo office, to discuss
the merger of Quattor and Braskem
and the role that Quattor’s teams will
play in Braskem’s growth, while introducing
them to Braskem’s strategic
vision and culture.
To analyze Quattor’s processes
and become fully familiarized with its
operations as quickly as possible, work
fronts have been organized to identify
synergies and best practices that
can and should be shared. Braskem
members will work at Quattor and vice
versa. Some areas will also be consolidated
to better harness the potential of
both companies.
Quattor has units and investments
undergoing expansion that are ready
to go online, which will add 200,000
tonnes per year of ethylene to its
production capacity, possibly as early
as May of this year. Others will add
200,000 tonnes per year of polyethylene.
Rio Polímeros (RioPol) is
expected to go onstream at full capacity
in 2010, when Petrobras’s Plangás
begins operations.
odebrecht informa

Control room in Duque de
Caxias: Quattor owns nine
industrial plants
According to Otávio Carvalho, a director
of the MaxiQuim consulting firm,
Braskem has chosen the right way to
take on the competition and expand its
market. It has decided to bolster the
industry in Brazil and internationalize
its operations by acquiring petrochemical
companies, as well as carrying out
projects from scratch by prospecting for
raw materials and building factories.
Braskem is already studying several such
initiatives, known as greenfield projects,
in Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia.
The first steps have already been taken
in Mexico. Braskem and Idesa, a Mexican
petrochemical firm, are partners in a joint
venture controlled by Braskem (65%).
The aim of this partnership is to develop
an integrated petrochemical project to
produce ethylene the polyethylene in
that country using natural gas feedstock.
Capable of producing up to a million
tonnes of polyethylene per year, these
new plants will begin operations by 2015.
Otávio Carvalho observes that one of
the main features of the petrochemical
industry is its global, competitive market.
Now that the nation’s economy is
The main numbers...
... for Braskem through the
acquisition of Quattor:
• 5,510 million tonnes/year of plastic
resins: polyethylene (3,035 t),
polypropylene (1,965 t) and PVC (510 t);
• BRL 26 billion in annual earnings;
• 26 production plants; and
• 6,300 Members.
• BRL 700 million – acquisition
value of Quattor.
... for Sunoco Chemicals:
• 950,000 tonnes/year of polypropylene;
• 3 industrial units;
• 1 technology center; and
• 360 Members.
• Acquisition value of Sunoco:
USD 350 million.
odebrecht informa

ooming and consumption is high, doing
business in Brazil has become attractive
to producers from several countries.
“China, India and Middle Eastern countries,
for example, are moving in our
direction,” he says, adding: “Although
Braskem is the only producer in Brazil,
it is not the only seller. Global distributors
are active in this country, and
international companies with plants in
Argentina, Colombia and the US have
established commercial bases here and
are vying for the nearly 11,000 clients in
this country’s plastics industry.”
A long-term partner in projects at
the Triunfo Petrochemical Complex
in Rio Grande do Sul and the Paulínia
Unit in São Paulo State, Petrobras has
chosen Braskem to increase its stake in
the petrochemical industry, “due to its
expertise, and management, technical
and commercial capacity,” according to
Paulo Roberto Costa, the state-owned
oil giant’s Downstream Director. “These
characteristics have given us the peace
of mind to play a more active role and
increase our stake in its corporate
structure.”
Carlos Fadigas, Braskem’s Vice
President for Finance and Investor
Relations, observes: “The consolidation of
the oil and petrochemical supply chains
adds value and competitive advantages
to every link in those chains: extraction,
refining, the production of raw materials
for the petrochemical industry and their
conversion into resins.” Another important
aspect of this partnership with Petrobras
is the fact that the oil company shares
a long-term view of the business with
Odebrecht. “The petrochemical industry is
a capital-intensive sector that requires a
long-term outlook. One or two years of low
tide won’t daunt partners who have been
in this market for decades, are familiar
with the ups and downs and know how to
plan for growth,” says Fadigas.
The plastics industry’s reaction to
the acquisition of Quattor was one
of “hope and confidence,” according
to Alfredo Schmitt, Chairman of the
Brazilian Association for the Plastic
Packaging Industry (ABIEF). “As business
leaders, we understand the world
trend in the petrochemical industry,
which is verticalizing and consolidating
to compete on the global playing field,
and we hope the resulting gains in
scale will be felt throughout the plastics
supply chain.”
odebrecht informa

24
profile
A true Carioca
written by Júlio Cesar Souza / photo by Américo Vermelho
Marcos Vidigal do Amaral could add “Botafogo” to his
surname. A Carioca (native of Rio) born in the Botafogo
district, he is an impassioned fan of the soccer club
of the same name that gave the world one of the
sport’s greatest stars, Mané Garrincha. The 47-yearold
engineer has played an important role in major
infrastructure projects in his hometown. He has
worked on construction and retrofitting projects for
stadiums, subways, educational centers, outfalls,
roads and penitentiaries.
Looking back on his 19 years with Odebrecht, Vidigal
says the last four have been the most intense. “We
work with experienced, committed teams, but the projects
were highly complex and the schedules were very
demanding, requiring tremendous dedication. There
was zero room for error.” He cites examples like the
retrofitting of Maracanã Stadium and construction of João
Havelange Olympic Stadium for the 2007 Pan-American
Games, and construction of the Ipanema Metro (see article
on page 40 of this issue). “They were public challenges that
had to be met.”
Vidigal joined Odebrecht in 1991 when the company was
building the access road to the Metro’s Cantagalo Station in
Copacabana. Today he is responsible for two projects: the
expansion of Line 1 of the Rio Metro and the infrastructure
facilities for the Complexo do Alemão slum district. Vidigal
knows that these works represent valuable opportunities to
improve the city. “Events like the World Cup and Olympics will
be major milestones, but we have to seize this opportunity to
make Rio a better place right now, starting today. I hope I can
help make that happen.”
Married with three children, Vidigal likes to spend some of his
free time cooking. “That started about two years ago. There’s
a whole ritual to it: I go out in the morning to buy the ingredients,
cook the meals, serve them, and even do the dishes.”
When he isn’t in the kitchen, Vidigal goes to the beach (“like
any good Carioca,” he says) and, of course, he follows the
“Lone Star” soccer club’s games and progress.
odebrecht informa

y eliana simonetti
25
márcio lima
Go, team!
A soccer-mad economist
Alexandre Assaf is a native of São Paulo with a degree in economics who has
been with Odebrecht for 17 years. After working in Brazil, Peru and Argentina, he
is currently Responsible for Planning and Administration at Odebrecht Angola. He
loves his job, and as everyone who knows him can tell you, another of his passions
is soccer. He has been a die-hard Palmeiras fan since he was seven years old, and
naturally, his wife and three children also root for his club. “Wherever I’m working,
it’s the same story: whether Palmeiras wins or loses, everybody calls me up to
congratulate me or give me grief. Even clients who are Corinthians fans join in the
fun.” Assaf went to the stadium in Luanda to see Angola’s national side play in the
African Nations Cup (ANC 2010). “It was all very well organized and beautiful. World
Cup level. Once again, Angola has established itself as a power in Africa.”
Constant motion
A tireless coordinator of quality and productivity
PERSONAL ARCHIVES
Antonia Luengo was born in Barcelona, Spain, and arrived in Brazil when she
was 5. She grew up in Bahia and spent 22 years in Alagoas. Equipped with an MSc
in Analytical Chemistry and Environmental and Urban Engineering, she is now
the Quality and Productivity Coordinator at the Braskem Polymers Unit, which
has units in the states of Alagoas, Bahia, São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. She
enjoys living in Maceió. “I love the beaches and the friendly people here,” she says.
However, Antonia’s job involves spending a lot of time shuttling between airports
and factories - sometimes visiting three states in one day. But she guarantees that
her routine does not interfere in her family life with her husband and children. “My
two kids were already grown up by the time I started racking up those frequent
flyer miles. Today one is a doctor and the other is a lawyer.”
Jobsite satisfaction
A Mineiro is building a Metro in southern Brazil
Rodrigo Lacerda is a Mineiro (a native of the central Brazilian state of Minas Gerais),
and the officer Responsible for Engineering on the extension project for the Porto
Alegre Metro (Trensurb) in Novo Hamburgo and São Leopoldo. He joined Odebrecht
in 2006 in São Paulo, where he worked on the Business Development program. He
was so excited about the invitation to work on a construction project that before ground
was broken in February 2009, he and his family had already moved to Novo Hamburgo
to study the region and plan the Odebrecht project. “The people who live in this city
have been looking forward to this project for a very long time,” he says. Rodrigo is
responsible for civil construction works and systems implementation, and he is also
helping resettle families in houses built by Odebrecht. “This has been a real opportunity
to experience education through work,” he says. In March, he became a father for the
second time. “Everything I’ve experienced here has been very special.”
Eneida Serrano
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26
organization
Bernardo Gradin, Entrepreneurial Leader (CEO) of Braskem:
"We have to give plastics our full support and demonstrate their
immense utility in various aspects of life”
“We have a fantastic
decade ahead”
The launch of Odebrecht’s Vision for 2010 was the highlight
of the Group’s subsidiaries’ annual meetings
written by José Enrique Barreiro / photos by Almir Bindilatti & Beg Figueiredo
The Odebrecht Group’s 2009
Annual Meeting was different
from its predecessors. This time
around, each company organized
and hosted its own event.
Meetings were held in different
places on separate dates, between
December 11 and 22, but each
had the same focus: presenting
that year’s achievements and
future plans. The highlight was
the launch of the Group’s Vision
for 2020, Odebrecht’s aims for the
next decade, presented by Marcelo
Odebrecht, President and CEO of
Odebrecht S.A., during the Annual
Meeting of Odebrecht S.A., when
he expressed his optimism about
the future: “We have a fantastic
decade ahead.” In addition to
Marcelo and the business areas’
Entrepreneurial Leaders (CEOs),
the speakers at the Odebrecht
S.A. meeting also included
the Chairman of the Board,
Emílio Odebrecht, the Honorary
Chairman, Norberto Odebrecht,
and the Executive Director of the
Odebrecht Foundation, Maurício
Medeiros.
odebrecht informa

≥
< On the big screen, from left, photos
of Entrepreneurial Leaders Benedicto Júnior
(Infrastructure), Henrique Valladares (Energy),
Márcio Faria (Industrial Engineering), Luiz Rocha
(International), Luiz Mameri (Latin America
and Angola) and Euzenando Azevedo (Venezuela).
In his presentation during this event, Marcelo
Odebrecht said: “Our only challenge for the
2010-2012 period is overcoming our own limits.”
“Our sustainable growth
depends on one thing: putting
the Odebrecht Entrepreneurial
Technology into practice”
[ Norberto Odebrecht ]
According to Bernardo Gradin,
Braskem has overcome serious difficulties
in the market and achieved positive
results, having met all the targets
set. The highlight was bolstering the
company’s partnership with Petrobras,
reflected by the recent acquisition of
Quattor. The Braskem meeting was held
in Praia do Forte, Bahia, with the participation
of 120 company leaders. In the
photo, from left, Manuel Carnauba with
Highlight Award winners José Cristóvão
Nunes, Antonio Tacidelli, Karen Riordan,
João Miguel de Faria Junior and George
Bispo Lacerda.
≥ “Leadership, the basis for sustainable growth,” was the
predominant theme at the annual meeting of Odebrecht
Realizações Imobiliárias (OR) in Costa do Sauipe, Bahia, which
was attended by 60 members of the Group’s real estate subsidiary.
Paul Altit, Entrepreneurial Leader of OR, underscored
the performance of the Bairro Novo (New Neighborhood) project
for the low-income segment (the company is participating
in the first housing PPP in Brazil) and OR’s projects for corporate
and upper-middle income clients. In Sauípe, the event's
participants visited decorated houses and learned about the
services offered by Quintas Private Residences, a gated community
that OR recently launched.
“The fabulous leap forward Odebrecht
has made since 2000 proves that incredible
things can happen” [ Piero Marianetti ]
odebrecht informa

Entrepreneurial Leader José Carlos
Grubisich speaking during the ETH
meeting, held on December 11 and 12
in Guarujá, São Paulo. In his view,
2009 was a year of achievements in
a challenging market: “We have five
plants in operation, three of which were
built simultaneously in just 13 months.”
Grubisich also stressed the merger
with Brenco (completed in February
of this year), which created the world's
largest ethanol producer.
“We have achieved some of the biggest and best results in our history. But the spirit of service
requires us to be continually aware of our Clients and concerned with giving them the best service
on a daily basis. And we must never lose our confidence in people, because without trust there
is no delegation, and without delegation, there is no organic growth” [ Emílio Odebrecht ]
Odebrecht Óleo e Gás held its meeting on December 12 and 13 in
Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. The theme of Health, Safety and Environment
was one of the highlights of the event. Entrepreneurial Leader Miguel
Gradin celebrated “30 million man hours worked without lost-time accidents
over the course of three years and seven months,” which garnered
the company the top grade of Excellent from Petrobras. In the photo, Pablo
Martinez, Victor Albuquerque Borba and Vágner Rogério dos Santos receive
the Highlight Award in the “Productivity: Knowledge Reuse” category in
the presence of Miguel Gradin (far left), Marcelo Penna (center) and Paulo
Cesena (far right).
≥
≥ During Foz do Brasil’s meeting, held
in Salvador, Bahia, on December 17 and
18, the sanitation company’s members
dramatized what the company would
be like in 2020 with the help of a theater
group, and went on a guided tour
of the Odebrecht Culture Center at the
Group’s headquarters. According to
Entrepreneurial Leader Fernando Reis
(photo), the highlights in 2009 were the
consolidation of Foz do Brasil’s assets
and backlog and the partnership formed
with the FGTS Investment Fund.
odebrecht informa

“I’m leaving this meeting with the feeling
that great progress has been made. Our
growth is more solid and our corporate
security has been reinforced”
[ Luiz Almeida ]
Pedrina Belém do Rosário, who was born and still lives
in the Southern Bahia Lowlands, where the Odebrecht
Foundation is active: at Maurício Medeiros’s invitation, she
spoke during Odebrecht S.A.’s annual meeting and moved
the audience with her story, declaring that she was only
able to get an education and become an agent of her own
future after taking part in the Foundation’s programs in that
region of Brazil. “Before that, I had no future,” she said. >
Vision for 2020
THIS IS WHAT ODEBRECHT AIMS TO BE A DECADE FROM NOW:
Lia Lubambo
> A group made up of thousands of
Knowledgable People who can satisfy
their Clients by providing innovative
solutions that help make a better world.
> The first choice of its Clients due
to its recognized ability to meet their
needs with integrated and innovative
solutions.
> A global organization of Brazilian
origin, present in over 30 countries,
whose 300,000 members practice the
same culture based on the values
and principles of the Odebrecht
Entrepreneurial Technology.
> Leader/Educators who groom and
unify thousands of Knowledgable
People, engage in full entrepreneurship
and capture synergies to better
satisfy each Client and foster qualified
diversification.
> A source of pride for its local
communities due to its contributions to
sustainable development.
> A Group that wins the trust of its
Clients, associates and external partners
due to its capacity for getting things done.
> Being one of the 50 most admired
organizations in the world, a leader in
the businesses and countries where it is
active and a benchmark for the creation
of value and sustainable development
for Clients, Shareholders, Members and
Society.
Marcelo Odebrecht launched the
Group’s Vision for 2020 during the
Odebrecht S.A. meeting
“Our Vision for 2020 is realistic, optimistic, fascinating and motivating. It is a major milestone.” [ Victor Gradin ]
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30
knowledge
A unifying factor
Knowledge Communities are a permanent forum
for debate and sharing experiences
written by Leonardo Mourão
ODEBRECHT ARCHIVES
The Maritime Infrastructure Community in Copenhagen and the Real Estate Ventures Community in Bahia:
preserving an archive of best practices and expertise
In December, Odebrecht tendered
the winning bid for one of the largest
roadways that will be built in South
America: the Ruta del Sol, which will
connect Bogotá to the Colombian
coast. Construction of the stretch
covered by the contract, a 528-km
section, will only begin in 2011, but
this project is already a milestone in
Odebrecht’s history.
“When we were developing our
bid, some technical questions
arose,” says Ruta del Sol Project
Director Manuel Ximenes. “So we
asked the Roadways Community
for advice. It was fantastic.
Contributions came in from everywhere,
and some of our co-workers
went to Colombia to help us out.
That’s how we achieved this victory.”
The Roadways Community Manuel
Ximenes is referring to is one of the
11 thematic groups that make up
the Odebrecht Knowledge Network.
Initially created in 2001, these online
communities bring together Group
members with common interests
and expertise who want to share
their experiences at the jobsites.
When one of them needs advice,
they submit their question to their
fellow community members. The
answers usually come quickly. “It’s
like an in-house consultancy system,
a permanent forum for debate,” says
Olindina Perez Dominguez, from
CIADEN (Knowledge and Information
for Business Development Support),
who coordinates the Knowledge
Network. “In a decentralized company
like Odebrecht, these groups
guarantee synergy among our
odebrecht informa

Highlights of 2009:
ODEBRECHT ARCHIVES
• 1st Meeting of Leaders,
in São Paulo.
• 3rd Meeting of the Roadways
Knowledge Community,
in Panama City.
• 1st Meeting of the Project Safety
and Environment Community,
in São Paulo.
• Preparatory Meeting of the Mining
Knowledge Community, in Lima, Peru.
• 3rd Meeting of the Metro Knowledge
Community, in Caracas, Venezuela.
• 1st Meeting of the Real Estate
Ventures Community, in Salvador, Bahia.
• 3rd Meeting of the Maritime
Infrastructure Community, in
Copenhagen, Denmark.
The Knowledge
Communities are
gaining ground in
Odebrecht. Several
meetings were held
in 2009, including
three outside Brazil.
Materials on Best
Practices for the
Roadways and
Maritime Infrastructure
were also published
that same year.
“The best of our
knowledge is right
here,” says
Olindina Dominguez.
businesses and preserve the massive
archive of best practices and
expertise that is being built up at the
jobsites on a daily basis.”
The leader of the Metro (Light
Rail) Community, Danilo Abdanur,
sees other advantages. “These communities
are democratic because
knowledge is universal,” he says.
“Everyone has access to them, no
matter what their position in the
company.” The way information is
shared also ensures the initiative’s
success, says Mauro Hueb, the
leader of the Roadways Community,
which will be present at the World
Roadways Conference in Portugal
this May. “Reading an article is
important, but learning about other
people’s experiences in the language
of the jobsites gets even more
professionals involved.”
The communities also keep their
members informed about the state
of the art in their fields of interest.
An event planned by Alexander
Christiani, the leader of the
Maritime Infrastructure Community,
is one example. In November, 55
members went to Copenhagen to
visit the world’s most important
laboratories in the field of maritime
hydraulics. “To achieve world-class
excellence, it’s essential to know
what’s best in the market,” says
Christiani.
“Few companies value knowledge
and the importance of sharing it.
Odebrecht is one of those welcome
exceptions,” says Marcos Cavalcanti,
the director of the Federal University
at Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Reference
Center on Corporate Intelligence.
According to him, sharing the experience
built up by thousands of
members throughout the company
is an unbeatable asset. “For a business,
knowledge isn’t just the cherry
on the cake. It’s the yeast that
makes it rise.”
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32
knowledge
TV, packaging
and further proof
of inventiveness
Teams demonstrate their creativity and spirit of service
through Highlight Award-winning projects
written by Eliana Simonetti / photo by Almir Bindilatti
A TV show where jobsite members
are the stars. A professional
education initiative that is changing
lives. A study that resulted
in an application of polymers
that reduced packaging production
costs. These are some of the
projects that won the Odebrecht
Group’s 2009 Highlight Awards,
an annual initiative that is gaining
strength as a tool for sharing
experiences and knowledge
throughout the organization.
At the jobsite for the Callao
Port Terminal in Peru, a closedcircuit
TV show helped improve
internal communication. The
brain child of the Odebrecht
Peru Community Relations team,
CDB TV informs all 800 workers
involved in the project about the
activities going on at the jobsite
and imparts the principles of TEO
(the Odebrecht Entrepreneurial
Technology). Many of them have
given personal statements on
the program and other members’
families have been interviewed.
The project won first prize in the
Young Partner category of the
2009 Highlight Awards.
The first prize winner in the
Sustainability category was the
Ongoing Professional Education
Program – Acreditar. Expected
to require 12,000 workers, one of
the greatest challenges involved
in the Santo Antônio hydroelectric
plant construction project in the
state of Rondônia, which CNO is
helping build, was helping people
acquire job skills. Today, 83%
of the 10,000 members working
on the project have come from
Acreditar. “That program came
here to change people’s lives,”
says Fabiane Costenaro, a psychologist
on the Acreditar team in
Rondônia.
Braskem’s teams came up with
a project whose creativity and
potential for cutting costs and
gaining a market made it the
winner in the Adding Value for
Clients category. They conducted
a study that resulted in using the
dry blending process to add two
polymers to the production of
Tetra Pak packaging. This innovation
reduced costs and increased
the client’s productivity, as well
as expanding Braskem’s polymer
market worldwide.
Here is the complete list of the
2009 Highlight Awards’ winning
projects and their authors:
odebrecht informa

Representatives of some of the 2009 Highlight Awards’ winning teams: from left, Mario Cecchi, Ana Cecilia Bardales
Caballero, Edgar Vinhas Teles Filho, Cássia Lins de Alencar, Fabiane Costenaro, Claudio Marcos Lira Barros, Heraldo
Barros and Alcir Guimarães
2009 Highlight Awards – Winning Projects
CNO
Sustainability – Acreditar
Program – Santo Antônio Plant,
Rondônia
Cássia Lins de Alencar, Edgar Vinhas
Teles Filho, Fabiane Costenaro and
Sayuri Ojima Costa
Health, Workplace Safety and Environment
– Changes in Wastewater
Treatment Management – Tocoma
Hydro, Venezuela
Claudio Marcos Lira Barros,
Carlos Bendezú and Juan Vielma
Productivity – Knowledge Management
– Construction Method –
Measures that Turn Problems into
Opportunities - Rodoanel, São Paulo
Alcir Guimarães, Mario Cecchi,
Heraldo Barros, Daniel Simões, Jorge
Pereira de Souza, Leandro Elias, Ângelo
Garcia, Julio Petini, Leandro Sobral
and Rafael Roriz
Young Partners – CDB TV, Puerto
Callao, Peru
Johana Bustillos Mere and Ana
Cecilia Bardales Caballero
Braskem
Continuous Improvement –
PVC Resin
Antonio Tacidelli, Karen Riordan
José Cristóvão Nunes, João Miguel
de Faria Júnior and George Bispo
Lacerda
Knowledge Reuse – Adaptation
to NR -13 (Regulatory Standard No.
13) for Small Equipment
for the Basic Feedstocks Unit
(Unib-BA )
Omar Pinto de Abreu, Carlos Alberto
Franco, Carlos Cézar Barbosa
Lemos and Ivo Andrei Oliveira Lino
Lima
Competitiveness - Unib-BA
Connection
Keslyane Morbeck Santos and
Moises Augusto Sousa e Silva
HSE (Health, Safety and Environment)
– A Tool for Evaluating
Quality of Life, Productivity and
Cost Reduction Programs
Eduardo Arantes and Newton
Figueiredo
Adding Value for Clients -
Dry Blend Solution Adds Value
to Tetra Pak on a Global Scale
Claudia Arruda, Fabio Mota,
Giancarlo Roxo, Karen Pallone,
Regina F. Nonemacher and Renato
di Thommazo
Popular Vote – Increased Productivity
and Safety, and Cost Reduction
at PE5-Slurry (Polyethylene)
Plants
Marcos Loges, Antonio Hopperdizel,
Jardel Scolaro and Luis Miguel
Gamaro
Odebrecht Óleo e Gás
(OOG)
Productivity – Knowledge Reuse
– Engineering Practices for Building
Works in Fully Operational
Industrial Plants without Impacting
Operations – Manifold Project,
Macaé, Rio de Janeiro
Victor Albuquerque Borba, Pablo
Martinez, Roberto Miaki, Erivelto
Laroca and Vágner Rogério dos
Santos
odebrecht informa

34 tribute
Thanks, partner
Event in Salvador brings 161 Members
together for a tribute to their 25 years of service
written by Cibelle Silva / photo by Beg Figueiredo
Esteban Zappana, from Peru
(giving Marcelo Odebrecht a poncho):
“My education is based on this
culture, and wherever I go, I share it
with the people I work with.
I’m proud to be part of this Group
and to receive this medal”
“It was one of the most exciting
moments I've ever experienced!
Getting here and doing my work
the way I’ve done it throughout
this entire journey really makes
me feel part of Odebrecht’s
history, just as the company is
part of my life. I thank everyone
at PHA 25 Years for making this
time so special through such a
well-organized event, where we
were given top priority. This is our
company.”
[ Rosangela Luna – Brazil ]
In 2003, 1,000 members celebrated
25 years of service with the Odebrecht
Group. Now, in 2010, that number is
expected to reach 2,100. The Annual
Tribute Program (PHA 25 Years) is held
to honor the people who have reached
this major milestone at a get-together
aimed at valuing, recognizing and
rewarding their dedication.
PHA 25 Years is held in the Brazilian
city of Salvador, Bahia, and lasts three
days. One of the highlights that people
often find the most moving part of
the event is when members and their
families visit the Odebrecht Culture
Center (NCO) and leaf through the
book that contains the names of everyone
who has completed 25 years with
the Group. On the last evening of PHA
25 Years, a special ceremony awaits
the honorees and their companions:
Emílio Odebrecht, Chairman of the
Board of Odebrecht S.A., together
with Marcelo Odebrecht, President
and CEO of Odebrecht S.A., and the
Group’s Entrepreneurial Leaders
(CEOs), hand out the 25-year medals.
It is followed by a celebratory dinner
and a show.
Many members were living their
dream of visiting Salvador. Others had
traveled by plane for the first time. All
the 2009 honorees felt the thrill and
satisfaction of taking part in such a
special event. It was held at a hotel on
Stella Maris Beach from December
8 to 10, and brought together 161
Odebrecht members, who each shared
that moment with a member of their
family.
In addition to Emílio Odebrecht and
Marcelo Odebrecht, the CEOs present
were Bernardo Gradin (Braskem),
Paul Altit (OR) and Fernando Reis
(Foz do Brasil). Jorge Mitidieri and
Luis Felli represented Miguel Gradin
(OOG) and José Carlos Grubisich
(ETH). The CEOs from Engineering &
Construction who took part included
Benedicto Júnior, Luis Mameri and
Luiz Rocha; Estevão Timponi and Enio
Silva representared CEOs Euzenando
Azevedo and Henrique Valladares.
The 161 honorees in 2009
included 80 from Braskem, 69 from
Engineering & Construction and 12
from ETH, OR, Foz do Brasil, OOG and
Odebrecht S.A. Each received their
25-year medal from their CEO and
Emílio and Marcelo Odebrecht.
see photos of the event at:
www.odebrechtonline.com.br
odebrecht informa

35
ODEBRECHT ARCHIVES
Chartis executives
visit Odebrecht
Chartis and Odebrecht
members in Salvador: from
left, Rosemarie Bonelli,
Kátia Luz, Samanta Faria,
Guillermo León, Hamilton da
Silva, Marcos Lima, Robert
Lee, Lisa Megeaski, Pedro
Sá and Luís Cláudio Barreto
Executives from Chartis, AIG’s property-casualty subsidiary, paid a visit to
Odebrecht Administradora e Corretora de Seguros, the Group’s captive broker, in
Salvador, Bahia. The visitors included the President of Chartis for Latin America
and the Caribbean, Hamilton da Silva; the head of the Credit Department for Latin
American and Asia, Robert Lee; the head of the International Credit Department,
Lisa Megeaski; the International Vice President for Bonds, Rosemarie Bonelli; the
Vice President for Latin America, Samanta Faria; and the President and CEO for
Brazil, Guillermo León. They toured the Odebrecht Culture Center and met with
representatives of Odebrecht S.A. and Odebrecht Administradora e Corretora de
Seguros, including Paulo Cesena and Marcos Lima.
Chartis is one of the Odebrecht Group’s leading insurance partners and the main
provider of Construtora Norberto Odebrecht’s surety bond capacity, particularly in
Latin America, furnishing an international line of surety bonds worth over one billion
US dollars. Some of the most recent Odebrecht projects backed by Chartis’s surety
bonds include the Santo Antônio hydroelectric plant in Rondônia, the D. Pedro I
Highway concession in São Paulo State, both in Brazil, and the Coastal Beltway in
Panama. During the meeting, Chartis’s representatives reaffirmed the insurance
company’s commitment to providing continued support for the Odebrecht Group’s
growth in the coming years, carrying on with a relationship that dates back 19 years.
The meeting ended with a dinner at the home of Victor Gradin, a Member of the
Odebrecht S.A. Board of Directors, where Gilberto Sá, another Odebrecht S.A. Board
Member, was also present.
Project will
benefit 350,000
in Campinas,
Brazil
Over 350,000 people living in 15 districts in
southwestern Campinas, São Paulo, will
benefit from the Capivari II Sanitation Program
after the first stage is delivered in 2011.
The project includes the construction of a
treatment plant for reused water, interceptors,
pumping plants and trunk sewers, which will
be installed underground in tunnels excavated
by a mini-shield TBM.
The client is the water and sewer company
Sociedade de Abastecimento de Água e
Saneamento (Sanasa), and Odebrecht is
leading the joint venture with General Electric
that is responsible for installing Capivari II.
One feature that sets this project apart is its
ultrafiltration membrane system. A technology
being used in Brazil for the first time, it filters
the sewage as it leaves the treatment plant
and produces reused water for sale. This
technology will also be used in the construction
of the water production plant that Odebrecht
will build in the ABC region of São Paulo City for
Aquapolo Ambiental S.A. This project includes
construction of an industrial water production
plant that will convey reused water to the
Capuava Complex through a 17-km pipeline.
Alemão: 344 homes built
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da
Silva in December visited the Complexo do
Alemão, a slum district in Rio de Janeiro,
to officially deliver over 192 housing
units as part of the Growth Acceleration
Program (PAC) Favelas program. So far,
344 units have been completed out of
the total of 728 planned for the complex.
Residents have already received 152
homes, as well as a Jobs and Income
Creation Center.
Other parts of the project scheduled for
delivery in 2010 include an Emergency
Health Care Unit, a Benchmark Secondary
School, the remaining 384 housing units
and a 3,500-m cable car system with
six stations linked to the city’s railway
system at Bonsucesso Station. The
cable car system will transport 120,000
people to and from the 12 communities
in the complex every day. Consórcio Rio
Melhor (a joint venture of Odebrecht, OAS
and Delta Construções), the contractor
responsible for the works in Alemão, is
offering professional education classes to
provide the skills people need to work on
these projects and groom new leaders.
The PAC-Complexo do Alemão Social
Work team, which focuses on sustainable
development by creating jobs and income
sources, estimates that 6,000 people will
have benefited from these classes when the
project is delivered by September 2011.
odebrecht informa

36
Safety at the plant
Collective DST at the Santo Antônio
hydro project
Safety on the job and through work was the subject of the Daily
Safety Training (DST) session held on January 18 by the Consórcio
Santo Antônio Civil (CSAC), the joint venture responsible for the
civil construction works for the Santo Antônio hydroelectric plant in
Rondônia, Brazil. The aim of the event was to boost teams’ safety
awareness so they will keep up their excellent performance on this
project. During construction of the Santo Antônio hydroelectric
plant, there are 140 people working in the safety program, including
engineers, technicians and assistants. The effectiveness of the
team's efforts is reflected by 15 million man/hours worked without
a single serious accident.
The DST held at the jobsite on the right bank of the Madeira
River included an ecumenical rite celebrated by Father Genésio
Pereira da Silva and Pastor Marcelo Amorim Mantovani. They
both blessed the project and stressed the need to pay attention
on the job. Project Director Mario Lúcio Pinheiro and the officer
Responsible for Administration and Finance, Antônio Cardilli,
were also present.
CNO teams start using O2
Concessionaire
donates 500
seedlings
In January, the Concessionária Rota das
Bandeiras road concession company donated
500 seedlings of native trees to Atibaia,
São Paulo. The City Council will determine
the locations where the trees, including
ipês-brancos, jacarandás-mimosos and
paineiras, will be planted. This initiative is
part of the concessionaire’s environmental
management policy.
Previously, Rota das Bandeiras had delivered
275 seedlings to Atibaia, 1,300 to Igaratá and
250 to Engenheiro Coelho (all in São Paulo
State). Other environmental compensation
activities will be carried out in Itatiba and
the São Paulo State cities of Paulínia and
Cosmopolis. All three municipalities will receive
1,825 seedlings, which the concessionaire’s
teams will care for during a three-year period.
Construtora Norberto Odebrecht members
started making the O2 project part of their
daily routine on January 11. Since that date,
nearly 1,950 company members based at
50 Operational Units have had this new
instrument at their disposal to carry out
administrative and financial operations.
“Our leaders have always kept a close eye on
this project, and because we were prepared,
the innovation happened naturally,” says Kid
Meirelles, the Administration and Finance
Manager (GAF) for the Arco Metropolitano
project in São Paulo. Maurício Chastinet,
GAF for the Braskem Project in Camaçari,
Bahia, adds: “Our commitment to carrying
out the pre-operational measures resulted
in a smooth transition. I believe that
everything goes right when you’re open to
change.”
However, whenever an innovation of this
magnitude is introduced, some challenging
situations are bound to arise. The main
challenges involved users who had a hard
time adapting to the new procedures;
instability in the module for inputting
items in the first 20 days; operational
uncertainties about who should be in
charge of approvals (leader/team member)
and some stumbling blocks when it came
to authorizing access and responsibility
for using this tool. Thanks to everyone’s
hard work and dedication, together with
the practice of “daily closings,” these
challenges are being met.
“We are disciplining each area to check
transactions on a daily basis so monthly
financial closings have minimal backlog,”
says Luciana Edwards, the officer
Responsible for Finance (RF) on the Arco
Metropolitano project. Vilma Vieira, the RF
for the Braskem Project, confirms that this
practice works by showing results. With her
financial closing scheduled for February 8,
Vilma works with that deadline in mind. “We
are very happy with O2. We do our financial
closing five days ahead of the date agreed
upon, thanks to the team’s efforts in the
pre-operational measures and, above all,
our daily process meeting.” The Project
Director for the Braskem Project, Luis
Ubirajara Inacio de Sousa, observes: “O2 has
introduced more unity and discipline to our
teams’ routine, enabling monthly closings to
go even faster.”
learn more about o2 at:
http://portalo2.odebrecht.com
odebrecht informa

Foz do Brasil’s facilities in Cachoeiro
do Itapemirim
Quality management
garners awards for
Foz do Brasil
Foz do Brasil’s quality management practices
in Cachoeiro do Itapemirim, Espírito Santo, garnered
two awards for the sanitation company: the
2009 Espírito Santo Quality Prize (PQES) and the
National Prize for Quality in Sanitation (PNQS).
Foz do Brasil received the Gold classification for
each award. The PQES is part of the Program
to Increase the Systemic Competitiveness of
Espírito Santo (Compete-ES), run by the State
Government. The trophy and certificate were
presented by Governor Paulo Hartung on
November 4 at an event in the state capital,
Vitória. An initiative of the Brazilian Sanitary and
Environmental Engineering Association (ABES)
and partner institutions, the PNQS is the most
important award for the Latin American sanitation
sector. The awards were presented in the
city of Fortaleza, Ceará, on November 19. Just
five companies in all of Brazil achieved the Gold
classification.
The Director of Foz do Brasil in Cachoeiro,
Antonio Carlos Brandão, stresses the importance
of these achievements for the company.
“Participating and being evaluated contributes
to our growth by encouraging more investment
in Quality Management and increased competitiveness.
There is no better proof that Foz do
Brasil’s processes are improving than getting
the Gold.”
roberto rosa
Loan agreement
with BNDES
Foz do Brasil has signed a loan agreement with the National Bank for
Economic and Social Development (BNDES) that will ensure BRL 55 million
in financing for the Cachoeiro do Itapemirim concession in the Brazilian state
of Espírito Santo. These funds will be invested in improving and expanding
the services the concession company provides in the city of Cachoeiro do
Itapemirim. Foz do Brasil will also invest BRL 20 million of its own funds,
reaching a total of BRL 70 million over the course of five years. The works
will include construction of a small hydroelectric plant, the expansion and
upgrading of the water distribution system and the expansion of the sewer
collection and treatment system, including outlying districts of
Cachoeiro do Itapemirim.
Planting native trees
In partnership with the city government, the Foz do Brasil unit in Limeira,
São Paulo, planted 1,534 native seedlings in the Permanent Preservation
Area (APP) on public land in the county, located in the Chácaras de Recreio
Santa Helena gated community. The tree-planting campaign was carried
out in a 9,200-sq.m area, carrying out the contractual obligation set forth in
Amendment Agreement No. 8 to restore the riparian forest that protects the
headwaters of a tributary of Ribeirão Pinhal, which, together with the Jaguari
River, supplies water to the entire city of Limeira. The planting campaign
involved residents of Chácaras de Recreio Santa Helena, Foz do Brasil
members, government representatives of the City of Limeira, and members of
the Committee for the Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí River Basins.
Trunk sewer
installation begins
In Rio Claro, São Paulo, where Foz do Brasil operates the city’s sewer system
through a PPP (public-private partnership), the company has begun installing 6
km of trunk sewers to collect sewage that is currently dumped in the Ribeirão
Claro. Part of the system will be installed in Edmundo Navarro de Andrade State
Forest. The waterway and the forest are two symbols of the city. To mark the
beginning of this campaign, Mayor Du Altimari held a news conference attended
by municipal secretaries and Denise Zanchetta, representing the São Paulo State
Department of the Environment, to introduce the project to be carried out in the
forest. During the interview, Du Altimari said: “Sustainable development is one
of the basic principles of our administration. All projects aimed at environmental
protection have our support.”
odebrecht informa

38 infrastructure
Access channel
to the future
The dredger operating in the
Port of Rio Grande is the largest
in South America
written by Milton Gerson
photos Mathias Cramer
It’s early February and the heat is unrelenting:
the thermometer reads 34ºC but it feels like 40ºC.
We are in the port city of Rio Grande, in the extreme
south of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
About 25 km from the docks, where the waves tower
up to 1.5 m, the Odebrecht Informa team reaches
the dredging vessel Juan Sebastian de Elcano
aboard the Maria Regina. Carrying out the largest
dredging operation currently underway in South
America, the Belgian vessel is one of the highlights
of the work being done to deepen the access channel
to Rio Grande do Sul’s main sea port, which is
also the most strategic facility of its kind for Brazil’s
trade relations with Mercosur.
Carried out under the responsibility of a joint venture
between Odebrecht and the Brazilian subsidiary
of Jan de Nul (JDN), a Belgian company that is a
world leader in the dredging market, this project
involves removing 18 million cubic meters of sediment
from the ocean floor to increase the channel’s
draft from 14 to 18 meters, with a width of 300 m on
the outer side; and from 12 m to 16 m and a width
of 230 m inside the moles that protect the entrance
to the port. When the channel is deeper, large ships
(such as post-Panamax vessels) that are already
operating in Rio Grande, but currently unable to
use their maximum cargo capacity, will be able to
increase their loads from 600 to 6,000 containers,
significantly reducing shipping costs. Furthermore,
a deeper access channel will enable the port to
odebrecht informa

Opposite, the dredging vessel Juan Sebastian de Elcano, and above, the sequence of the movable arms’
operations, monitored by cutting-edge technology
bring in, concentrate and transport
grain from Argentina, Paraguay and
Bolivia, ore from Mato Grosso do Sul
and Bolivia, lumber from Uruguay and
containers from Argentina, Uruguay
and Paraguay, and thereby become a
hub port.
Signed in June 2009, the contract
for this project is part of the National
Dredging Program (PND) of Brazil’s
Special Ports Department (SEP).
The BRL 196-million project is being
financed by the federal government’s
Growth Acceleration Program (PAC).
There are currently three PAC projects
underway in the Port of Rio Grande,
involving investments in excess of
BRL 800 million. “Thanks to these
works, we will be able to expand the
port’s operations. We have projected
a turnover of 50 million tonnes for
2015, which is double the current volume,”
says Fernando Victor Carvalho,
the SEP’s Under-Secretary for Ports.
Odebrecht is responsible for two of
these projects: the extension of the
moles, now in its final stage, and
the dredging operation. Odebrecht
Project Director Mauro Darzé explains
that the experience gained during
the extension of the moles was critical
to enabling Odebrecht to win the
dredging contract. “The fact we were
already extending the moles gave us
a competitive advantage because we
had unrivalled knowledge of the subsoil
in the port’s access channel.”
Working day and night since August
2009, the Juan Sebastian de Elcano,
which came from Oman – a month-long
voyage – removes 16 tonnes of materials
from the seabed (mud, sand and sea
water) per 95-minute cycle. The work is
done by suction, using a dredging boom
with two movable arms that plunge to
the bottom of the ocean, driven by two
pumps. High-tech, high-precision equipment
controls every stage of the operation.
The work on the dredging vessel is
done by 33 professionals: 17 foreigners
(Belgian, Spanish and Croatian) and the
remainder Brazilians, mostly from Rio
Grande. In addition to the crew on deck
– technicians and machine operators,
divided into two shifts – a command and
support team made up of engineers and
assistants monitors the work from shore.
A pub, gym and kitchen
To improve the crew’s quality of life
during their daily routine, the vessel
is equipped with recreational areas
such as a pub, a gym and a kitchen/
dining room, where two cooks prepare
local and international dishes.
The vessel only stops dredging once
every three weeks, when it docks at
the Container Terminal to take on
fresh supplies. Its fuel tank can hold
up to 1.2 million liters.
Speaking excellent Portuguese
for someone who has only been in
Brazil for a little over eight months,
the Belgian civil engineer Tom Van
Slambrouck, 29, JDN’s Project
Manager, observes that his work with
Odebrecht has been marked by synergy
and complementary activities. “This
is a partnership where we are combining
JDN’s technology with Odebrecht’s
expert knowledge of the situation on
the ground.”
After eight months of work, the hardest
part has been done. In all, 49% of
the channel (the entire internal channel)
has been dredged, removing over
9 million cubic meters of sediment.
According to Mauro Darzé, this has
enabled the State Port Authority to seek
the homologation of the port, and record
a depth of 16 m on the official sea chart,
thereby “eliminating one of the bottlenecks
that had contributed negatively to
the port’s competitiveness.”
Once the dredging has been completed,
the current depth of the channel will
be maintained for a two-year period.
Jaime Ramiz, General Superintendent
of the Port of Rio Grande, is optimistic
about the development that this project
will bring about in the city, the state and
the country. “We are about to become
the largest export hub in the South, a
benchmark for the region between São
Paulo and Buenos Aires.”
odebrecht informa

40 rio metro
Passengers in
General Osório
station: four
entrances, a
stylish look and
technological
innovations
The train from Ipanema
The official opening of the Ipanema district’s first subway station
enables the Rio Metro to transport 80,000 more passengers per day
written by Marcus Neves / photos by Elisa Ramos
odebrecht informa

In the heart of Ipanema, one of the
best-known and oft-sung districts
of Rio de Janeiro, the Rio Metro officially
opened General Osório Station
on December 21, exactly 30 years after
the first subway train rolled through
the city’s underground. The ceremony
was held in the presence of Brazilian
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,
Rio de Janeiro Governor Sergio Cabral
Filho, State Transportation Secretary
Júlio Lopes, and other officials, including
federal, state and municipal lawmakers.
This project has unique features that
set it apart from the Rio Metro’s other
stations, particularly the fact that it is
the largest urban cavern carved out of
rock in Brazil. It has four entrances:
one on the plaza that gives it its name,
another on Jangadeiros St., a third on
Sá Ferreira St., which also links it to
the neighboring district of Copacabana,
and the fourth on Teixeira de Melo St.
Two towers are being built at the fourth
entrance: one is 65 meters high, with
two elevators carrying up to 30 passengers
each; the other is 25 meters
high and has two elevators with a
total capacity of 40 passengers. These
facilities, which will begin operating
in June, will transport residents of
the Cantagalo community to and from
that hilltop favela, or slum district.
At the Teixeira de Melo St. entrance,
Odebrecht is also building a civic service
center for the community, whose
services will include issuing vital documents
such as birth certificates, ID
cards and work papers.
Bento José de Lima, Engineering
Director of Riotrilhos, the state-owned
company responsible for light-rail systems
in Rio de Janeiro State, observes
that according to the original design,
the only exits at Teixeira de Melo St.
From left, Bento José de Lima, Director of Riotrilhos, President Lula, Governor
Sergio Cabral Filho, Secretary Júlio Lopes (rear, doffing hardhat) and
construction workers: joining forces
would have been exhaust vents. “But
the design was eventually changed,
which resulted in the construction
of accesses to Cantagalo Hill. In this
case, the design kept pace with the
construction works, not the other way
around.”
Paulo Cezar dos Santos, 59, has
lived on Cantagalo Hill since he was
10, and is now the President of the
Residents’ Association. He cites
the benefits of this projects for the
Cantagalo and Pavão-Pavãozinho communities.
“A lot of folks around here
work in other neighborhoods, especially
downtown, and they have to commute
by bus, which takes a big chunk
out of their day.” His wife, Ana Maria
da Silva Santos, adds: “It’s going to
be fantastic. I love it. Thanks to these
elevators, I’ll be able to carry groceries
home from the supermarket.”
community relations
During the two years and eight
months it took to complete the
project, 5,687 visits were made
to local residents to inform
them about what was being
built beneath their feet - the
equivalent of 178 visits per
month, or 44 per weekend.
Project Director Marcos Vidigal
do Amaral says that the project was
highly complex due to the need for
underground excavation in a densely
populated area full of large buildings.
“Odebrecht has established an excellent
rapport with the community and
obtained their enthusiastic support. We
have made our clients’ dream come
true, including the State Government,
through the Department of Public
Works, as well as the community,”
says Vidigal.
During the opening ceremony,
Governor Cabral declared that the
construction of General Osório Station
will go down in the history of Rio’s and
Brazil’s subway systems because it was
completed exactly on time and is fully
operational, with no reported accidents
during construction. “This is an extraordinary
feat, accomplished through
teamwork and partnerships,” he said,
referring to the fact that the federal and
state governments joined forces with
the Metrô Rio concession company and
Odebrecht, which was responsible for
building the station.
“The extension of the Metro as far
as Ipanema is an achievement of vital
importance for Rio de Janeiro’s public
transport system,” Cabral underscored.
Now that it has reached Ipanema, the
Metro will add 80,000 users per day to
its transportation capacity.
odebrecht informa

42 petrochemicals
The equipment arrives
in the Port of Rio Grande
and (opposite page) is
delivered in Triunfo after
traveling another 300-km
by road: the operation
mobilized 150 people
at the jobsite
eduardo beleske
A triumphant arrival
The equipment that will comprise Braskem’s green ethylene
production unit arrives in Triunfo, Rio Grande do Sul
written by Taís Hens
Hours before dawn on February
7, a Sunday, the first of three ships
from China and Japan arrives in
the southern Brazilian port of Rio
Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, transporting
the main pieces of equipment
for Braskem’s green ethylene
plant. Its arrival coincides with
the peak of construction of the
new plant at the Triunfo (Triumph)
Petrochemical Complex, which is
being built by Odebrecht’s Industrial
Engineering area. Now that over
95% of the civil construction has
been completed, the most complex
phase of the project is about to
begin: assembling the large-scale
equipment.
The first batch included the reactors
which, together with the distillation
towers, heat exchangers and compressors,
weigh a total of 568 tonnes
(metric tons). The ethylene fractionating
tower alone weighs a hefty 147
tonnes, stands 53.5m high and is
2.7m in diameter. Once the cargo had
cleared customs, the equipment traveled
an additional 300 km by road to
the Triunfo Complex, where it was
unloaded in its permanent locations.
The operation mobilized a team of 150
people out of the total of 1,500 who
are working on this project.
Since the site already has paved
roads and the foundations of buildings
and facilities were ready to receive the
equipment, the assembly operation did
not run the risk of delay due to weather
conditions. The most complex tasks
involved raising the ethylene fractionating
tower, which had to be divided
into three parts for transport and
required special hoisting and welding;
and the assembly of the compressors,
each weighing 45 tonnes. The design
odebrecht informa

Mathias cramer
of the building that will house the
compressors took their assembly into
account. A hydraulic gantry was used
to transport them directly to the base.
The peak of the project is expected to
continue until May.
This BRL 500-million project
involves some innovations, including
the pursuit of new partners to supply
machinery and equipment. For
the first time, the main suppliers are
in China. Extensive pricing research
in over 20 countries found that the
Chinese offered amazing quality at a
competitive price, surpassing Europe
and Japan, which traditionally supply
this sort of equipment.
During the manufacturing process,
Braskem and Odebrecht Engenharia
Industrial worked closely with all their
Chinese suppliers to ensure compliance
with the requirements set by
the engineering design. Acquiring
the equipment in China required an
investment of about BRL 30 million.
“We found an important window of
opportunity in regard to time, cost and
quality performance. Our suppliers
are partners who are highly qualified
to meet Braskem’s present and future
needs,” observes Sérgio Luiz Gomes,
the Manager of Braskem’s Green
Ethylene Project.
The contract for implementing the
project is being carried out through an
alliance between Braskem, Odebrecht
Engenharia Industrial and GenPro
Engenharia. Luiz Axelrud Mutti, from
Odebrecht, the officer Responsible for
Construction and Installation, observes
that the teams have planned all the
activities involved in the various steps
to harmonize the best sequence of
construction and installation with the
delivery of operating systems. “The
schedule was set according to the
priorities of the team responsible for
starting up the plant,” says Mutti. He
explains that the success of a venture
with a challenging (fast-track) schedule
requires unique engineering and
construction and installation solutions.
“We are ahead of schedule on the
green ethylene project. The goal is to
start up the plant earlier than planned.
It was originally supposed to go online
in the fourth quarter of 2010. This way,
we will have more time to fine-tune the
production side.”
Braskem already has green plastic
deliveries scheduled for the first
quarter of 2011. When production
begins in 2010, the company’s Green
Ethylene unit will be a global pioneer
in terms of industrial scale production,
bolstering Braskem’s strategy of
accessing new competitive sources of
raw materials, in line with its vision of
sustainability.
odebrecht informa

44
people
Just the right mix
Odebrecht Oil & Gas teams working in Brazil, the United Arab
Emirates and South Korea are characterized by a mix of seasoned
veterans and young professionals
written by Marco Antônio Antunes / photo by Eduardo Barcellos
odebrecht informa

Leonardo Guimarães, 33, joined
Odebrecht Óleo e Gás (OOG) just four
months ago. A mechanical engineer
who has been out of college for eight
years, he is one of the many professionals
OOG recently hired to help
build three offshore oil rigs, including
Norbe VI and Norbe VIII (in the United
Arab Emirates) and Norbe IX (in South
Korea). Leonardo is the manager of the
Norbe VI project, which is being built
in Abu Dhabi, in the UAE. He and his
entire crew of 192 people are all coming
into close contact with TEO (the
Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology).
“The first class I took was the
Introduction to the Odebrecht Culture,
and it will be the first that many people
take,” says Leonardo. The newly hired
members will take mandatory classes,
such as Health, Workplace Safety and
Environment, Advanced Firefighting
and Salvaging, which includes submerged
helicopter emergency escape
training.
There are so many advanced technologies
involved that they “require
constant recycling of knowledge on just
about everything for the teams that will
operate Odebrecht’s three new oil rigs,”
explains Herculano Barbosa, CEO of
OOG’s Offshore Drilling Services Sector
and the officer responsible for the construction
of the three new Norbes.
One of the first to take part in
Odebrecht’s experience in the oil
and gas industry, through Odebrecht
From left, Marcos Vinicius Santiago,
Herculano Barbosa, Nacib
Haddad, Leonardo Guimarães,
Edvan Marteleto and Fábio Valério
da Conceição: representing different
generations of leaders heading
OOG projects. Smaller photo: the
Norbe VI platform
Perfurações Ltda. (OPL), where he
worked from 1983 to 1998, Herculano
returned to the company in 2006 as a
Project Director at OOG. He has helped
groom a large number of professionals,
many of whom are now returning to
work alongside him and help the company
overcome fresh challenges. They
already include six managers and over
60 crew members, who are now among
the 400 members who will make up the
three teams crewing Norbes VI, VIII and
IX. “These are experienced people who
we need to operate the new rigs and
manage projects. They will also help us
teach the younger folks.”
The experienced professionals he
mentions include Fábio Valério Farias
da Conceição, 46, who joined OOG a year
ago but had worked for Odebrecht previously
during two different periods – from
1992 to 1994, at OPL (shut down in 1998),
and from 1998 to 2001, in the oil and gas
area. Thanks to his long track record in
the merchant marine and the offshore
oil drilling sector, he will be the captain
of Norbe VI and the Offshore Installation
Manager at the same time. “As captain,
I’ll be responsible for safeguarding people’s
lives at sea. If the platform causes
pollution, runs aground or is damaged in
any way, the first person held responsible
will be the captain.”
Edvan Marteleto Sanches, 29, is a
civil engineer who also joined OOG a
year ago. He will be one of the younger
crewmen aboard Norbe VI, a rig that
Petrobras will use to prospect for oil
in the Campos Basin, offshore Rio de
Janeiro. “I know there’s no routine
aboard an oil rig, and that it’s a huge
technological challenge. That’s why I
chose this job,” he says. He will soon
be going to Abu Dhabi to start working
on the rig, whose construction began
in August 2006. It will be ready by May
and will set sail for Brazil in June, with
roughly 140 people aboard.
Nacib Haddad, 22, is a petroleum
engineer who has just found his first
work opportunity. Like Edvan, he is
currently working at OOG’s Macaé
Base in Rio de Janeiro State, where
he is taking classes and familiarizing
himself with all the technical and
administrative aspects of the project
before going on to work in Abu Dhabi.
“I intend to make the most of this
opportunity,” he says.
Marcos Vinicius Sampaio, 25, is a
mechanical engineer. He doesn’t want
to miss this chance either. “I know
that we can grow as professionals
and men on this project. In addition to
taking classes, we are also going to
undergo training to operate the platform,
and will be groomed in practical
Petroleum Engineering, thanks to the
lessons we are learning from the seasoned
pros.”
ODEBRECHT ARCHIVES
odebrecht informa

46 education
Participants in the
Macaé program: valuing
people’s potential and
grooming leaders
odebrecht informa

Schools in action,
growing lives
Focused on children, youths and adults, the educational project
underway in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro, involves the public and private sectors
and the local community
written by Edilson Lima / photos by Roberto Rosa
“This school’s my second home,” says
Deusdete Carvalho, from Rio de Janeiro
City, who is married with three children.
She has lived in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro,
for 14 years and has always been involved
in activities at the Engenho da Praia
School. As a result, the school’s directors
chose her to run the Schools in Action
project there. “I’m mostly interested in
the students and the conservation of the
facilities,” she says.
The Schools in Action Project in Macaé
was introduced in August 2007 through
a partnership between Odebrecht Óleo
e Gás (OOG), the Group’s oil and gas
subsidiary, UNESCO and the Municipal
Department of Education. The aim is to
contribute to the city of Macaé’s social,
economic and technological development.
The program’s strategy is very simple:
public schools open their doors at night
and on weekends to host cultural, sports
and civic activities, as well as professional
education, digital inclusion and corporate
volunteer programs. Eight schools are
currently involved in the project, four of
which signed on in October 2009. Targeted
at children, youth and adults, Schools in
Action’s partners include the public and
private sectors and the local community.
Private corporations are contributing
financial resources and volunteers.
Murilo Bonfim Neto is one of those
volunteers. An Odebrecht engineer, he
teaches English at the project, and has
brought in more volunteers: Marcela
Bonfim, a dental student, who helps
Murilo teach classes, and Edson Abilio
Júnior, an elementary school student,
both of whom have IT skills. “We
exchange ideas with our students and
teach by example. To ensure the project’s
sustainability, we want to train new leaders,”
says Murilo.
The professional education classes
focus on civil construction, boilermaking,
industrial drawing and industrial
electricity. Taught in the evenings on
weekdays, the classes last three months,
and there are two courses per year. They
have graduated 406 students since 2007,
and 220 in 2009 alone. The graduates of
the course held in the second semester
of 2009 received their diplomas in
November. Odebrecht Informa attended
the graduation ceremony, where a
reporter met up with Manoel Moreira,
25, an alumnus of the Industrial Drawing
Workshop results
• 37 workshops held
• 500 frequent participants
• 27 Members mobilized by the
Corporate Volunteer Program
• 33 trained community
volunteers: parents, local
leaders and teachers
course, and now an Odebrecht Member.
“I started out as an assistant painter, and
later I was promoted to industrial painter.
Now I’m the leader of the painting team.
I feel fulfilled thanks to the Schools in
Action project. And all it took was a year
and seven months of hard work.”
The digital literacy portion of the project
is being introduced into Schools in Action
through the “Caia na Rede” (literally
“Enter the Net”) program. The aim is to
bring people from local communities and
partner companies into the world of information
technology. The teaching units’
libraries are also being computerized.
Schools in Action activities also include
Capoeira, fabric painting, music, theater,
indoor soccer and hockey, which are
offered on Saturdays. “I love indoor soccer,
it’s good for the body and mind,” says
Thais Quintanilha, age 15. Hockey coach
Rosilda Rodrigues has been with the
Schools in Action project for two years,
and observes: “For me, hockey is a passion.
I love teaching these students. They
have fun while competing and learning.”
Realizing people’s potential is an
integral part of all the project’s activities,
according to Rita Ippólito, who runs
the Schools in Action project and OOG’s
Corporate Social Responsibility area.
“Here, people are not just numbers. They
are treated as individuals with potential
for growth.”
odebrecht informa

48
argument
by Sergio Leão and vinício fonseca
The value of best social and
environmental practices
tThere is a growing awareness
among political and business leaders
regarding the need to invest
in best social and environmental
practices. In 2003, a small group of
financial institutions adopted a new
set of guidelines for the financing
of infrastructure projects known as
the Equator Principles. Today, 70
private-sector financial institutions
are signatories to the agreement.
The leading international credit
agencies are also adopting similar
principles.
The main reason for adopting
these principles is a growing
consensus that such practices
contribute to the achievement
of positive results and decrease
the risk of negative impacts for
projects, their sponsors and lenders.
The biggest obstacle to wider
acceptance of these principles is
the notion that they are just “cost
items” with no guaranteed return.
This view, however, is called into
question by a recent experience
involving the Palomino hydroelectric
plant. Odebrecht is building
this project in the Dominican
Republic, where specific environmental
studies of local wildlife
facilitated the approval of longterm
loans worth USD 150 million
with favorable terms through
special lines of credit from the
Inter-American Development
Bank (IADB) and Euler Hermes,
the German export credit agency.
This took place at the height of the
financial crisis, when most sources
of financing were closed.
Palomino is just one example of
what Odebrecht recognizes as constituting
adequate social and environmental
programs. The Group
applies the same principles of
social and environmental responsibility
in all its projects, with a view
to generating prosperity.
Sergio Leão and Vinício Fonseca,
Members of Construtora Norberto
Odebrecht, they are respectively
Responsible for Sustainability and Support
for International Project Finance
read the article in full at
www.odebrechtonline.com.br
for more information about
the equator principles, visit
www.equator-principles.com
odebrecht informa

yesterday
ODEBRECHT ARCHIVES
Rio de Janeiro
Ground was broken for the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ) campus (formerly Guanabara State
University) and Rio de Janeiro International Airport in the early 1970s. Odebrecht was experiencing its
national expansion phase, and the company’s teams were setting up campsites and mobilizing work
fronts that would add two landmark projects to the horizon of the “marvelous city.”
The size and significance of those works heralded a new era for the city of São Sebastião do Rio de
Janeiro, founded by Estácio de Sá 445 years ago.
ODEBRECHT ARCHIVES

odebrecht informa
In the states of São Paulo (Limeira and Rio Claro)
and Espírito Santo (Cachoeiro do Itapemirim), Foz do
Brasil is carrying out programs that are helping change people’s attitudes and behavior
toward the environment. Through the Open Doors program, residents of Limeira are
visiting the city’s water treatment plants. In Rio Claro, the company is partnering up with
a program that encourages students in the municipal schools to collect oil that would
otherwise enter the sewer system. The oil is resold to make soap and biofuel.
In Cachoeiro, the headwaters of the Itapemirim River and 60 hectares of riparian forest
have been restored through the Rio Vida Reflorescer (River Life Revived) Program, a
partnership between the company and local landowners.
PHOTO : Sérgio Alberti