ENERGY - Odebrecht Informa

# 157 vol XXXVIII NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011
English Edition
Clairton Gadonski,
a Braskem member
at the Triunfo
Petrochemical Complex
in Rio Grande do Sul
with an LED lamp,
one of the company’s
energy-saving solutions
ENERGY
Projects and ideas
that drive the daily lives
of individuals, communities
and nations
informa
I

II
informa

informa
1

www.odebrechtonline.com.br
Read Odebrecht Informa on your iPad and smartphone.
Features, articles, videos, photos, animations and infographics.
The achievements of the Odebrecht Organization on your tablet and smartphone.
Online edition Online archive Innovations Video reports Blog
> You can view
this entire issue
in HTML
and PDF
> Brazil’s Light for All Program brings better
living conditions to rural communities in
the state of Minas Gerais
> Hydropower plant makes the water and
sewer system in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim,
Espírito Santo, energy self-sufficient
> Augusto Roque Dias Fernandes, CEO
of Odebrecht Energia, is the third member
interviewed for the Savvy Project
> Access all back issues of Odebrecht
Informa since no. 1, and download full
issues in PDF
> Odebrecht Annual Reports since 2002
> Special publications (Special Issue on Social
Programs, 60 years of the Odebrecht Group,
40 Years of the Odebrecht Foundation and
10 Years of Odeprev)
On the right path
Complexo do Alemão, in Rio de Janeiro,
is undergoing social transformation where peace
and development now go hand in hand
> Expansion of Line 4 of the São
Paulo Metro brings new mass
transit options to the downtown
area of Brazil’s largest city
> In Rio de Janeiro, Odebrecht
and the Brazilian Navy partner
up to prepare youth to practice
Olympic sports
> Braskem reports the best
environmental performance in
its history
> Odebrecht Realizações
Imobiliárias has one of the
largest numbers of green
buildings in Brazil
> Dos Mares hydroelectric project
supplies 118 MW of clean energy
to the people of Panama
> Follow Odebrecht Informa
on Twitter and get the
latest news in real time
@odbinforma
> Comment on blog entries
and participate by sending
suggestions to the editors
> Read posts on the
Odebrecht Informa
blog by the magazine’s
reporters and editors,
including Cláudio Lovato
Filho, Fabiana Cabral,
José Enrique Barreiro,
Karolina Gutiez, Renata
Meyer, Rodrigo Vilar,
Thereza Martins, Zaccaria
Júnior and collaborators.

ENERGY
6
12
14
16
20
24
28
32
38
44
48
52
55
58
#157
Braskem invests in diversifying its energy mix
and increasing efficiency
Braskem adopts LED lighting – more economical,
efficient, and eco-friendly
Petrobras’s new headquarters in Vitória uses innovative
energy technologies
By building an SHP, Foz becomes energy self-sufficient
in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim
Complex of three factories in Suape gives the Brazilian
textile industry a boost
Henrique Valladares discusses Odebrecht’s role
as an investor in the energy sector
Teles Pires: innovative ways of mobilizing people
to work on a remote project in Brazil
Odebrecht debuts in the wind power generating segment
with wind farms in southern and northeastern Brazil
The drive in Angola to take electricity to people
in a larger swath of the country
From mine to seaport, the long and essential road
of coal produced in Mozambique
Light for All: heartwarming stories of people switching
on electric lights for the first time
A simple, creative and effective energy-saving
project from La Candelaria, Argentina
In La Plata, the strategic expansion of a YPF refinery’s
production capacity
José Luiz Alquéres and the energy sector’s prospects
in Brazil and worldwide
photo: Carlos Júnior
&
News
People
Capa
Ilustração de Rico Lins
62
67
70
73
74
76
78
81
82
2014 FIFA WORLD CUP
HOUSING
TRANSPORTATION
FOLKS
PROFILE
ARTS & CULTURE
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
HISTORY
SAVVY
informa informa
3

4
informa

EDITORIAL
Energy that
empowers dreams
and ventures
“With a track record in
the industry that started
in the 1950s, when the
company built dams in
the Brazilian Northeast,
Odebrecht is not only a
provider of engineering
and construction
services but also a
producer and investor.
Through its teams
around the world, the
Odebrecht Organization
is harnessing and
sharing its accumulated
experience and
knowledge to give its
local communities the
best it has to offer.”
Lopes Sebastião and Dilma Marçal. He lives in the Angolan
province of Uíge; she lives in the Brazilian state
of Minas Gerais. Both have only just recently started
using electricity in their homes because their communities
are the beneficiaries of government initiatives involving
Odebrecht.
Gustavo Checcucci and Fernando Chein. Gustavo works at Braskem,
leading the team responsible for managing the energy the company
uses. Fernando works at Odebrecht Energia and is spearheading the
company’s debut in the wind power segment.
And there are more people like them in this issue of Odebrecht
Informa: José Piquetai, from Mozambique, Julio Romano, from Argentina,
Pablo Andreão and José Dalvi, from Espírito Santo, Brazil,
and many others who, one way or another, have seen their lives
change through Odebrecht’s work in the energy sector. They are
either the beneficiaries or the people responsible for making those
benefits happen, and their stories of work and life attest to the fact
that the spirit of service and hope are two sides of the same coin,
and each is vital to the other.
With a track record in the industry that started in the 1950s, when
the company built dams in the Brazilian Northeast, Odebrecht is not
only a provider of engineering and construction services but also
a producer and investor. Through its teams around the world, the
Odebrecht Organization is harnessing and sharing its accumulated
experience and knowledge to give its local communities the best it
has to offer. Whether it is the placement of an outlet, switch or lamp,
the deployment of a wind farm or the construction of an industrial
complex, what matters most is the difference it makes in people’s
lives – wherever they are, no matter how many they may be – people
with dreams and everyday lives, inspired by the belief that life should
be lived to the fullest, with joy, persistence and passion.

maximum
yield,
minimum
waste
6

A company that uses
2% of all the power
consumed in Brazil,
Braskem is investing
in the diversification
of its energy mix
and boosting selfproduction
capacity
Braskem Unit at the
Camaçari Complex:
seeking energy efficiency
in production processes
written by Thereza Martins
photos by Dario de Freitas
Odebrecht Archives

To run the equipment at its plants in
the Brazilian states of Alagoas, Bahia,
Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Rio
Grande do Sul, Braskem uses roughly
2% of all the power consumed in
Brazil. Compared to the consumption of the nation’s
industrial sector as a whole, that percentage
reaches nearly 5%. What’s more, when analyzing
the chemical industry, which includes Braskem,
the company’s demand exceeds 50% of the total,
demonstrating Braskem’s important role in the national
energy scene.
“The chemical and petrochemical industries are
key users of energy inputs, along with mining, steel
and glass producers,” explains electrical engineer
Gustavo Checcucci, the officer Responsible for
Electricity Management at Braskem.
Using a wide range of technologies and processes,
the company’s 28 plants in Brazil consume
energy from numerous sources. Braskem’s energy
mix includes natural gas, fuel oil, coal, electricity
and residual fuels (oil and gas generated by industrial
processes at the plants).
The company has a specific body that manages
all these inputs: the Energy Directorate, including
three managers, one dedicated to the regulation
and sale of electricity, another focused on fuels and
energy efficiency, and the third responsible for the
self-production program.
Gustavo Checcucci, in front, with members of
his team (Mauro Koiti Kumahara, Lucas Garcia
Nishioka, Fabio Yanaguita and Kelly Sayuri
Yamaki): responsible for managing the energy
Braskem uses. Below, transporting coal in
Triunfo: a diversified mix
used every month and the user receives an invoice
at the end of each period.
As with any other type of trade, free market prices
fluctuate according to supply and demand. During
the rainy season, for example, water reservoirs
Monitoring performance
The management of electricity use at Braskem
is consolidated on the 25th floor of the building
where the company has its headquarters in São
Paulo. Linked to the company’s plants through a
network, it is the home base of the Energy Operations
area, where three engineers led by Gustavo
Checcucci are hard at work. By scrutinizing TV and
computer screens, they keep track of the real-time
consumption and supply needs of each of the company’s
factories to ensure that they get the best
possible service.
Their team is also responsible for purchasing energy
on the open market, an alternative to the “captive
market” (Regulated Environment), to which the
vast majority of consumers are accustomed. This
way, the supplier measures the amount of energy
Photo: Mathias Kramer
8
informa

are full and prices fall, rising again in the dry season.
Likewise, the cost of energy is higher at times
of peak demand - for example, from 6 pm to 9 pm.
“To purchase electricity at the most competitive
prices you have to know the future needs of
the plants’ operations and plan your procurement
in advance,” says Gustavo, adding: “In this sense,
the free market benefits us with a choice. In 2010,
the Energy Operations area’s negotiations saved
Braskem BRL 23.5 million.”
The annual cost of energy inputs for the company
totals roughly BRL 750 million. Braskem’s share of
electricity purchased from the power grid is 10%,
and in the second half of 2011, it represented 3.2%
of the cost of goods sold.
Finding better prices, deadlines, contracts, payment
terms and partners is a daily effort, but there
are other fields to be explored. Market regulation is
one of them. With this aim in mind, Braskem forms
part of the Brazilian Association of Large Industrial
Energy Consumers (ABRACE) and keeps a close eye
on discussions of issues such as possible tariff reductions,
one of the factors which most affect the
cost of energy.
Client support
While negotiations on the free market benefit
Braskem, they can also add value to its clients’
informa
9

usinesses. Based on this reasoning and assumptions
supported by the Visio program, the Polymers
(Sales) and energy areas are taking their
experience to Borealis Brasil, a Braskem affiliate
(the company owns a 20% stake through a joint
venture).
“Like TEO [the Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology],
the Visio program, which is specific to
Braskem, is based on the principle of building
and maintaining partnerships with individual clients,”
says Octávio Pimenta, Sales Leader for the
compounds segment, which participated in negotiations
with Borealis. “By teaming up to purchase
electricity, we are putting the spirit of service and
innovation into practice to help our clients overcome
the challenges they face.”
For some time now, Borealis has seen migration
to the free market as a competitive option.
“We were not sure if the move would be feasible
because it would require the additional work of
planning and management, and we did not have a
specialized team for that,” says chemical engineer
Laudemir Sarzeta da Silva, the company’s Director
of Operations. “Now we can count on this partnership
with Braskem and will have time to evaluate
the experience,” he adds.
Working with a partner that sells power, Braskem
purchased electricity for Borealis. The agreement
is valid for one year, enough time for the company
to decide if it will go ahead with the partnership
or return to the “captive market.” The energy inputs
purchased are for Borealis’s unit in Itatiba,
São Paulo, which has a production capacity of 24
tonnes per year of polypropylene compounds, raw
materials for the auto industry and household appliances.
Borealis has another plant in Brazil, at
the Triunfo Petrochemical Complex in Rio Grande
do Sul, which already benefits from a competitive
energy supply.
In Itatiba, Borealis’s power consumption totals
approximately 2,320 kW per month. According
to the regulatory requirements for this market,
companies with a demand of 500 kW to 3,000 kW
can participate in the free market as long as the
supply comes from renewable energy sources
such as small hydropower plants (SHPs), biomass
electricity cogeneration plants and wind
Ludemir Sarzeta
da Silva, from
Borealis: partnership
guarantees energy
acquisition
farms. “For us, this is an added incentive. In addition
to getting more competitive energy, we are
choosing the path of sustainability,” says Laudemir.
Borealis currently spends up to BRL 6 million per
year on energy inputs and expects to save approximately
BRL 400,000 by migrating to the free market.
Energy efficiency
Thermal energy generated by natural gas, coal, fuel
oil and residual fuel represents 90% of Braskem’s energy
mix. These inputs are burned in the furnaces and
boilers of the plants’ Utilities areas and converted
into steam to drive the processes of the petrochemical
industry.
Purchasing inputs under contract, managing
energy and complying with regulatory standards
are some of the tasks of the team led by engineer
Marcelo Wasem, who is responsible for fuels and
energy efficiency in the Energy Operations area.
10
informa

want to have an overview of all Braskem initiatives
related to energy efficiency to find the best way
to support the teams that are spearheading these
projects,” he says.
Soon, every project introduced by company members
– whether its focus is innovation, productivity
or quality – will also include some information about
its potential impact on energy efficiency.
“The company is investing in projects to increase
its capacity for self-production and improve the
energy efficiency of the inputs it consumes,” says
Marcelo. By efficiency, he means maximizing use
and minimizing waste, while ensuring quality, cost
competitiveness and reducing negative environmental
impacts, among other features.
“We are working to develop a systemic view of
efficiency, that is, mapping the production units to
understand how each device and each routine operates
and can make the most of its potential. We
also identify bottlenecks, provide solutions, establish
monitoring indicators and compare them with
the market,” says Marcelo.
A consultant will come on board by the end of
2011 to help with these activities, with a view to
achieving results by 2012. Marcelo Wasem explains
that, so far, the gains in energy efficiency
achieved are due to specific projects carried out
by the Maintenance and Productivity teams. “We
Sustainable option
Because of logistics, the Braskem Basic Petrochemicals
Unit (UNIB) in Triunfo is the company’s
only plant that uses coal as an energy source.
“More than 90% of the coal reserves in Brazil are
located in the South, mostly in Rio Grande do Sul,”
says Marcelo Wasem. “And Braskem uses a significant
part of that input, due to its competitive price,”
he emphasizes.
However, Brazilian coal gives off large amounts
of ash (35% of total volume). Fly ash, which is dry, is
sold to the cement industry. However, a sustainable
alternative to tailing ponds has yet to be found for
the wet bottom ash removed from boilers after the
burning process.
One viable option could be on the horizon as
a result of a pilot project, already underway, that
uses bottom ash to make brick blocks. Entrepreneur
Mauro Pezzi Parode based the design on
technology developed almost 30 years ago by the
Science and Technology Foundation (Cientec) of Rio
Grande do Sul.
With the help of the City of Triunfo, which provided
a warehouse in the industrial zone of the city,
and of Braskem, which provided guidance on legal,
environmental and occupational safety matters,
Mauro Parode is already producing at pilot scale.
“I’ve equipped the factory with its own resources,
and hired and trained people to work there. Today,
our production capacity is up to 4,000 units daily,”
he says. Production is not yet at full capacity, because
Mauro is looking for a partner interested in
using the blocks to build brick houses. Braskem
provides the ash used to make the bricks free of
charge.
Cientec studies show that bottom ash can also be
used to manufacture sleepers for railway projects,
as well as serving as a base for paving roads.
informa
11

12
A bright
idea
Braskem decides
to install LED lighting
in all its facilities
written by Luciana Móglia photos by Ricardo Chaves
In this case, it is more appropriate to say that
when the idea came, a light bulb went off. And
LED (Light Emitting Diode) lighting switched
on instead. Technologically advanced, this
kind of light helps reduce power consumption,
offers more durability compared to other solutions,
and does not contain mercury. There were more than
enough reasons for Braskem to decide to invest in
LED at one of its units in Rio Grande do Sul, making
the company a pioneer in the use of this type of lighting
on an industrial scale.
This move, taken in 2009 to improve the lighting
conditions of the Basic Petrochemicals Unit at
the Triunfo Complex in Rio Grande do Sul, was just
the first step. Fifteen thousand tubular fluorescent
lights will be replaced with LED lights by the end
of 2012, marking the completion of the first phase
of the project. The company’s investment will total
USD 1.8 million. The projected payback period is 12
months, and the project will soon be replicated in
other Braskem units.
The group formed to suggest improvements used
a period of transition to seek a sustainable solution.
“Gas discharge lamps, which were the type most
commonly used, contain mercury and generate more
waste by using reactors and having a short life,” says
Clairton Gadonski, a member of the Electrical and
Maintenance area and the person responsible for
forming the group.
The first stage of the work of the multidisciplinary
team composed of representatives from the Electrical,
Instrumentation and Procurement areas, and
Braskem’s partner electrical company, was studying
available solutions. Among those evaluated were LED,
T5 fluorescent and sodium vapor lamps. The main features
the group tested were temperature, light output,
efficiency, electrical parameters, user acceptance,
cost effectiveness and environmental impact.
Five to 70 times more durable
LED lamps beat out the rest in virtually every point.
“They last five to 70 times longer, depending on the
12
informa

Clairton Gadonski,
a Braskem member
based in Triunfo:
LED produces less
waste
technology you’re comparing them with, generate energy
savings of 20% to 80% and have a smaller impact
on the environment,” says technology researcher
Flávio Dieterich, also a member of the group. However,
there was one drawback: the price.
But the group did not give up. “As time went on,
prices went down and quality improved, so the technology
has become competitive with other options,” says
Thiago Oliveira, a representative of the Procurement
area. He takes the lead in negotiations with suppliers of
lights, lamps and fixtures. “Suppliers have realized that
Braskem could be a major partner and a showcase for
this alternative,” he says. Braskem chose Philips, one
of the world’s leading manufacturers, as the supplier
for its first major purchase of LED tube lamps.
The plant started making the switch in January
2011. Braskem’s program to replace conventional
lighting with LED is taking place on four fronts. One
is the replacement of lamps in UNIB’s administrative
area, control rooms and substations. Two thousand
fluorescent tubes have already been replaced with
LED lamps. In the pilot tests conducted, the result
has been 35% higher luminous flux (measurement of
the perceived power of light) and a 40% reduction in
energy consumption.
The introduction of LED fixtures in street lighting
is also being tested as a pilot project. Twenty 20 LED
lamps have been installed, which are now lighting the
José Eduardo:
operating area and the streets of the company’s aprendizados units.
The next step is to replace all the 500 precisam mercury se vapor
converter em
lamps used for that purpose.
The operational areas where the new lighting
will be installed include the boilers, which are being
adapted for LED. Specific lighting will be installed for
the furnaces, using LED technology. Finally, the project
will move on to the warehouses and workshops:
the investment made so far at UNIB totals BRL
800,000, with a projected payback period of one year,
considering all the benefits the new system will bring.
Meanwhile, Braskem has decided that its butadiene
plant, scheduled to go online in 2013 in Rio
Grande do Sul, will be entirely lit with LED.
informa
13

oof
A model for sustainability, the new Petrobras building
in eastern Brazil is equipped with high-tech
energy-saving features
Creativity goes
through the
written
The state of Espírito Santo is the secondlargest
oil producer in Brazil and is expected
to attain production of 400,000
barrels per day by the end of the year.
In 1957, Petrobras was the first to explore
for oil in that state. Since then, several fields have
been discovered, and in 2001 the company established
its headquarters in the state capital, Vitória. Due to the
4
growth of production, especially in the 2000s, Petrobras
decided to build a new headquarters
there. Consórcio OCCH, a
joint venture of
by Fabiana Cabral photos by Lívia Aquino
Odebrecht Infraestrutura, Camargo Corrêa and Hochtief,
was chosen to take the project off the drawing board
and deliver a building that is a model of sustainability
and energy efficiency.
The chosen site was a hill in the Barro Vermelho
neighborhood. The main entrance is on Avenida
Nossa Senhora da Penha. With a built area of
95,000 m2, the complex comprises two office towers
connected by a central building, a Virtual Reality
Center, a Data Processing Center, a restaurant
and a utilities building. About 600 professionals are
currently working at the jobsite, which will eventually
be used by 2,000 people.
The complex was designed to make the
most of the region’s natural ad-
Petrobras’s new
headquarters
in Vitória and,
opposite, some
of the pipes used
to keep chilled
water circulating
between floors:
a modern
air-conditioning
system

vantages, such as abundant sunshine and cooling
breezes, and will be equipped to make it eco-efficient.
“This building is a showroom for sustainable
processes and high technology, including the
use of solar energy and low heat absorption glass,
100% sewage treatment and water recycling to
water the garden and flush toilets, as well as an
economic air-conditioning system,” observes Odebrecht
Project Director Sidney dos Passos Ramos.
With the energy efficiency of the enterprise in
mind, Petrobras and the OCCH joint venture opted
for a modern air-conditioning system that uses
water to cool every room. The Radiant Ceiling
system was installed in the offices and the main
building. “This is the first real estate development
in Espírito Santo to use this kind of technology,”
says Sidney.
According to Antônio Morais Telesforo, the Utilities
and Electromechanical Installations Manager
at the joint venture, water is more efficient than air
when it comes to heat exchange, and requires less
energy to cool the building. “The Radiant Ceiling
reduces water and power consumption by about
30%, and keeps out drafts and noise. It regulates
the temperature and humidity, providing more
comfort for the building’s users,” he explains.
It is a closed-circuit system composed of 5 km of
insulated pipes, which hold 200,000 liters of chilled
water that circulate between the floors of the complex
and the chillers in the utilities building, where
the process begins.
The new Petrobras Building’s Chilled Water Plant
contains four chillers of three types: electric, where
heat is expelled (similar to the process of cooling a
refrigerator), absorption, using chemical reactions
to absorb heat, and air, for emergencies, equipped
with 12 fans. “The temperature of the water is 5°C
when it leaves the plant and 15°C with returns,”
says Edimauro Conde Arouca, Project Coordinator
at Eleven Systems, one of the joint venture’s partner
companies.
After being chilled, the water is pumped through
the pipes until it reaches coils coupled to metal plates
in the Radiant Ceiling. “The coils radiate the cold to
the surface of the plate, which radiates it into the
room,” explains Edimauro. The water then returns to
the chiller and the process starts all over again.
To control humidity and the amount of CO2 in the
air, the Radiant Ceiling also uses an air-cooled system.
“Since there is no air exchange with the external
environment, a device called a fan-coil removes
the dirty cold air and clean fresh air comes in,” says
Antônio Morais. “The rooms have been divided into
comfort zones to maintain the same temperatures
and save energy. Users will not even notice that the
place is air-conditioned,” he adds.
informa
15

A benchmark
called
cachoei
Construction of a small hydroelectric plant
bolsters the city’s standing as a role model
for overcoming the challenges of supplying
water and sewer services
written by Irene Vucovix photos by Bruna Romaro
16
Foz’s SHP on the
Itapemirim River:
a milestone for the
company and the city

o
From the windows of his office, Pablo Andreão,
Director of Foz’s Cachoeiro de
Itapemirim Unit in the eastern Brazilian
state of Espírito Santo, has a magnificent
view of the Itapemirim River
and a good part of a pioneering project. The Small
Hydropower Plant (SHP) built on Ilha da Luz (Island
of Light) began operations in early November, making
the city’s water and sewer utility energy self-sufficient.
The SHP is a milestone for Foz and Cachoeiro de
Itapemirim, Espírito Santo’s “Princess of the South.”
For the company, this is because it reinforces its role
as a hub of excellence in providing an essential service
while using energy more efficiently. For the city,
it is because it has retrieved the history of Ilha da
Luz, which got its name in 1903, the year when the
original power plant began operations there and became
the driving force that made Itapemirim the first
city in Espírito Santo and the third in Brazil to have
electric street lights.
Precisely 108 years later, Foz has invested BRL 30
million in the construction of an SHP that includes
the restoration of part of the structure built at the
time of the old power plant, which also spotlights a
history that is a source of pride for the entire community.
Ilha da Luz is once again living up to its name
through a venture that generates 500 times more energy
than the old plant did in the early 20th century.
The SHP is designed to generate 3.8 MW of power,
36% more than the 2.8 MW planned in the initial design,
and enough energy to power a city of 40,000 inhabitants.
“Electricity is the biggest part of a water and sewer
utility’s budget,” says Pablo Andreão. “The commercial
operation of the SHP makes Odebrecht’s
environmental solutions company a role model for
energy efficiency and sustainability. This will be highly
positive for the local community and partnerships
with suppliers by creating value for shareholders and
the entire water and sewer business in Brazil.”
Andreão took the helm at Foz in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim
in June. A 10-year member of the Odebrecht
Organization, he has actively participated in the entire
process of implementing the SHP, which began in
2003 with the initial feasibility studies. Later, in 2005,
he oversaw the licensing process and, as of June 2010,
informa 17

he has supervised construction of the plant. Because
it is being built in an urban area, it required extensive
dialogue with the community and an intense social
and environmental education program.
The biggest beneficiaries of the plant’s commercial
operations will be residents of the urban area, which is
home to more than 90% of Cachoeiro de Itapemirim’s
190,000 inhabitants. Foz supplies drinking water to
99.5% of the properties in that region, and 92.5% are
also serviced by sewer systems. Andreão observes:
“The SHP will ensure the steady operations of the utility,
whose services require continuous operation of
facilities and equipment located throughout the urban
area that is the municipal seat of Cachoeiro, as well as
in the other nine districts that make up the city.”
Cachoeiro’s economy will also get a tremendous
boost from the SHP’s operations because it will allow
Foz to stop sourcing all the energy it uses from the
local public system, as the utility is one of the 10 largest
electricity purchasers in the city. Because this input
is critical for industry, the local infrastructure will
become even more attractive for new and significant
developments that will create more jobs and sources
of income.
“The SHP will strengthen the status Cachoeiro
de Itapemirim already enjoys as a benchmark for
its water and sewer system, which has made our
city one of the first in Brazil to address the issues of
water supply and sewer services through a publicprivate
partnership,” says Pablo Andreão.
World class
“Foz has the water and sewer service concession
until 2035 and is responsible for operating,
maintaining, modernizing and expanding Cachoeiro
de Itapemirim’s water and sewer system.
The goal is to steadily develop a system that was
already good, thereby enhancing Odebrecht’s values
and philosophy,” says Mário Amaro da Silveira,
former COO of Foz in Cachoeiro and now Director
of Saneatins, the Tocantins state sanitation company,
Foz’s latest achievement, which in October
obtained a stake in the company’s private-sector
shareholdings (76.52%).
Foz took over the operation of the city’s water and
sewer services in 2008. Between 2009 and 2012, the
company’s investments will total BRL 75 million,
compared with BRL 50 million spent over the pre-
18
informa

Installing a turbine
at the SHP: electricity
is the most expensive
input for a water and
sewer utility
vious 10 years. The BRL 75 million have been distributed
on three fronts: water loss reduction and
automation; expanding the coverage of the sewer
system; and construction of the Ilha da Luz SHP.
“Foz has an institutional client, the city government,
which is the grantor, but the client is actually
the end consumer, who receives drinking water
with world-class treatment standards from a utility
ranked among the top seven providers of water and
sewer services in Brazil,” adds Mário Amaro da Silveira,
referring to the ranking the company obtained
through the National Quality in Sanitation Award in
2010.
Luiz Carlos de Oliveira, CEO of the City Regulation
Agency for Public Utilities in Cachoeiro (Agersa),
says he is satisfied: sanitation in the city is
“well-rounded.” “This makes it possible to focus
our efforts on overcoming challenges related to
other municipal services, and the city can invest
in areas like health and education.” He also points
out that the Ilha da Luz SHP allows the utility to
provide services more efficiently, which directly
benefits the public by reducing the cost of water
and sewer rates.
Oliveira observes that the plant’s construction and
the visual impact of the works have stirred public interest
and sparked the popular imagination. “Some
people even thought the Itapemirim River would be
filled in,” he jokes. All the rumors were cleared up,
and the inhabitants were reassured. The Itapemirim,
a source of pride for Cachoeiro’s residents, is just as
it always was, but much cleaner since Foz installed
the sewer system.
Barber Joseph Dalvi, 71, six-time president of
the Teixeira Leite District Residents Association and
willing to serve many more terms in office, can attest
to that. He has lived in the same house overlooking
the Itapemirim for over 40 years, and has
spent many weekends collecting debris floating
in the polluted waters of the river. Over time, his
daughters grew up, his grandson was born, his hair
turned white and he has learned to understand the
soul of Itapemirim even better. “Before, the stench
was unbearable, the fish disappeared, and you could
hear the river groaning for her life. Now, thanks to
the sewer system, the stench is gone, the fish came
back and it’s full of fingerlings jumping in the water.
The river is alive again.”
informa
19

A complex
of three
factories in
Suape will be
Brazil’s largest
integrated hub
for polyester
production
ener
Project
Director
José Gilberto
Mariano and
part of the
complex’s
facilities:
innovation
and education
through work
20
20
informa

gizing
the textile industry
written by Renata Meyer photos by Tiago Lubambo
Organizing the largest integrated polyester
production hub in Latin America polymers and filaments; resin for PET packaging;
complex, which will contain three plants: polyester
at the Suape Industrial and Port Complex
in Ipojuca, Pernambuco. This is material for polyester products.
and Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA), the basic raw
the goal of Companhia Petroquímica When all three plants are fully operational by the
de Pernambuco – PetroquímicaSuape, a subsidiary end of 2012, the complex’s electricity consumption
of Petroquisa, the petrochemical arm of Petrobras.
Three integrated industrial units will be built in a
550,000-m2 area with the aim of giving fresh impetus
to the Brazilian textile industry.
To put the plan into effect, Odebrecht Engenharia
Industrial has been hard at work since 2007, as the
company responsible for detailed engineering, supply
of the materials and equipment, construction
and the assembly of electromechanical units. The
Organization’s industrial engineering arm is also responsible
for managing the construction of the entire
could reach 4.5% of the state of Pernambuco’s entire
demand, a total of 100 MW. The client is taking
several measures to ensure the rational use of energy
resources on this project, with technical support
from Odebrecht teams.
Cogeneration plant
One of those measures is the installation of a central
cogeneration plant using heat generated by the
PTA production process. The Process Air Compressor
(PAC) system will allow the unit to reuse energy
informa
21

and, therefore, will ensure a savings of approximately
12% in the PTA plant’s power consumption.
The main raw material in the production process
for PTA is paraxylene, a petroleum product which undergoes
oxidation when subjected to high pressure
in the presence of air and heat, releasing gases with
temperatures in excess of 200 o C. “Under no circumstances
can these gases be released into the atmosphere,
because the impacts on the environment
would be very harmful. So the heat extracted during
the cooling process is used in the cogeneration plant
to produce electric power for the plant’s own use,”
says Mauro Ambrosano, General Manager for Maintenance
at PetroquímicaSuape.
The PAC compresses the air feeding the PTA
plant’s oxidation reactor. The compressor is driven by
an engine/reactor, which contains a turbine and an
expander connected to the same system, driven respectively
by steam and hot gases generated during
the oxidation process.
“The electricity generated by the heat that results
from this process is considerably greater than the
amount required to run the PAC, so the surplus is
exported to the grid and used at the PTA unit,” explains
Ambrosano.
Pioneering technology in Brazil
Imported by the client, this technology was developed
by Invista, a British technology company, in
partnership with Siemens of Germany. This is the first
time it will be deployed in the Brazilian petrochemical
industry. Thanks to the PAC, PetroquímicaSuape
no longer needs to purchase 30.6 MW from the primary
energy grid, providing a savings of up to BRL 5
million per month. “Using conventional technologies,
all this energy would be wasted,” Mauro Ambrosano
explains.
Odebrecht Engenharia Industrial is responsible
for installing the equipment in a process that requires
a high level of expertise. Weighing about 300
tonnes, the PAC is a rotating assembly in which each
component acts on the rest. “The assembly and installation
of the PAC is a process that requires tremendous
precision. Our biggest challenge is to ensure
perfect alignment of the parts so that everything
works as planned,” says Project Director José Gilberto
Mariano. “Participating in pioneering project
of this magnitude allows us to groom more and more
people who will be qualified to work on ever more
complex projects,” he adds.
In addition to the PAC, the Suape Petrochemical
Complex will use other strategies to ensure the rational
use of energy. All the civil engineering and architectural
designs for the plants ensure maximum use
of sunlight, which helps reduce the number of light
fixtures used. This measure, combined with ultra-high
performance equipment, is viewed as a priority in all
operations, allowing an estimated energy savings of
about 5%.
The synergistic integration of the industrial units,
seen as a significant competitive advantage in this
venture, is also a factor in resource optimization. Using
a central utility to supply the entire complex with
informa
22

Inside one of the
factories: benefiting the
textile industry’s entire
supply chain
compressed air and cooling water reduces operating
costs and energy wastage.
The complex also has a central chilled water facility
for all the plants. The high-performance, automated
air-conditioning process continuously monitors temperature
and humidity inside and outside the plants,
and ensures the ideal mix of air to provide suitable conditions
for the units’ operations while saving energy.
Quality power
The power supply is one of the factors that have
the greatest impact on the textile industry’s operations
due to the high demand for this input in production
processes, and especially the quality required in
energy transmission, which is crucial to ensuring
that the equipment runs smoothly.
“The slightest voltage variation, imperceptible in
most industrial uses of electricity, could break textile
fibers and force the plant to interrupt its operations.
A shutdown of this nature is very harmful for
the resumption of the production process, which
could take weeks,” says Mauro Ambrosano. To ensure
the stability of the electric current, both the
equipment and the substation serving the complex
are equipped with a sophisticated power quality control
system.
Thanks to a total investment of BRL 4.9 billion, the
plants at the Suape Petrochemical Complex should
work nonstop, every day of the year, except during
planned maintenance shutdowns. The expectation is
that this project will benefit the entire supply chain
for the Brazilian textile industry.
informa
23

interview
“Here we are, as
investor
written by Zaccaria Junior
photo by André Valentim
Recently created to manage Odebrecht’s investments
and operate power generating assets with a focus on
renewable sources, Odebrecht Energia has inherited
the legacy of the Organization’s long connection with the
electric power generation industry, which dates back to
1952, the year it began building the Ituberá and Candengo hydropower
plants in Bahia. It has also been an investor since 1994, starting with
the Itá hydro in Santa Catarina, which marked the resumption of private
investment in that sector in Brazil. In this interview with Odebrecht
Informa, Henrique Valladares, CEO of Odebrecht Energia, discusses
the Organization’s achievements and future in this sector. “We are
committed to living up to our Shareholders’ confidence in us and to
providing energy solutions for other Organization companies and our
Clients in Brazil and other countries,” he says.
24
24
informa

s”
Henrique Valladares:
“We have the
installed capacity
to be investors and
operators inside
and outside Brazil”
informa
25

Odebrecht Informa – Odebrecht has a long track
record as a contractor, participating in the construction
of about half of the power generating facilities in Brazil,
both on its own and in joint ventures. Did that lead to the
natural decision to bolster its investment arm?
Henrique Valladares – Odebrecht has a long
history in this area. And the fact that we have extensive
experience in the construction of electric power assets
positions us differently in the generation segment. Most of
Capanda hydroelectric plant, a major vector for
the development of the Angolan economy. Also,
we began our operations in Argentina and Mexico
with the Pichi-Picún-Leufú and Los Huites plants,
respectively. Odebrecht has been ranked as the
largest international builder of hydroelectric dams
eight times, according to ENR – Engineering News-
Record, a publication that is a benchmark in the
industry.
Odebrecht’s investment opportunities have resulted from
thorough knowledge of two key variables: time and costs.
And we have learned from our roots: providing excellent
engineering and construction services and meeting the
Client’s needs. Moreover, long experience in financial
OI – Is Odebrecht Energia also focusing on international
investments?
Valladares – Absolutely. We now have the installed capacity
to be investors and operators both inside and outside Brazil.
engineering, especially
We have also applied this
in the form of project
finance, also makes a
capability in other promising
markets, such as Peru,
difference in our role as
investors in electricity
generation, particularly in
greenfield projects. The
drive to better serve their
Clients has enabled our
entrepreneur-partners
to acquire a thorough
knowledge of the value
chain for the power generation
business, which
enables them to grow
our holdings. So here we
are, positioning ourselves
as investors, through the
“Odebrecht has a long
track record in the
energy area.
And the fact that we have
extensive experience
in the construction
of assets in that area
is very important”
where we were awarded
the Chaglla Hydroelectric
Plant project, the second
largest in the country, which
broke ground in the first
half of this year. That project
represents an investment
of USD 1.2 billion and
marks the beginning of the
performance of Odebrecht
Energia as an investor and
operator of power generation
assets outside
Brazil.
creation of Odebrecht Energia S.A., with operations in OI – What about the Brazilian market? What is the
Brazil and other countries. It is important to point out company doing to keep pace with the growth of
that our operations in the hydropower plant market have investments in the energy sector?
also been a key factor for the Organization’s international Valladares – For decades, investments in the energy
expansion.
sector were predominantly made by the Brazilian
government. We’ve continued investing in power
OI – Why is that?
generation in the case of the Santo Antônio hydropower
Valladares – Dam construction has always been plant on the Madeira River in Rondônia, where
an important vector for growth outside Brazil. Peru Odebrecht is not only building the plant but Odebrecht
was the starting point of Odebrecht’s international Energia has a significant stake in the investment and
expansion. We have been present in that country management of the concession.
since 1979, starting with the Charcani V hydro in
Arequipa, built under the Misti volcano. Another OI – Is Santo Antônio a milestone?
milestone in our internationalization process was Valladares – It certainly is! We have adopted
Angola, where we arrived in 1984 to build the the strategy of investing in inventories and feasibility
26

studies for hydropower projects, contributing to the
development of industry while participating as investors
in auctions held by the Federal Government. And the
biggest auction of all, without a doubt, was for the
Madeira River Complex. Santo Antônio has cemented
our role as investors in this sector. Since we were
in professionals from other parts tends to have on a
region. Today, 80% of the workforce at Santo Antônio
consists of locally hired skilled professionals, 10% of
whom are women, which represents a paradigm shift in
the construction of hydroelectric dams in the Amazon
region.
awarded the concession for the Santo Antônio plant,
our view of the energy market is now primarily as an
investor, without detriment to Odebrecht’s operations
as a provider of engineering and construction services,
as in Belo Monte and Teles Pires.
OI – Does the company’s strategy include other sources
of power?
Valladares – In addition to already counting on
the generating assets of the Chaglla and Santo
Antônio hydroelectric dams, we are also aware of the
OI – Santo Antônio, which is in the middle of the Amazon
Basin, is a project that is now viewed a benchmark for
opportunities afforded by a range of alternative sources
such as wind, biomass, small hydros and solar power.
inducing sustainable development.
Talking about wind
Does this
power generation,
the
“The fact that the
greatest potential for
hydropower generation
in Brazil is located in the
Amazon biome requires
outstanding performance
in social and environmental
management”
auction held in August
this year enabled us to
deploy four wind farms
in Rio Grande do Sul,
totaling 116 MW. We also
have 13 more farms (290
MW) on hand that are
qualified to participate
in upcoming auctions,
as well as prospects for
greenfield projects in
the states of Bahia and
Ceará. Furthermore, we
are beginning to develop
other projects involving
all kinds of alternative
provide more security
for investment?
Valladares – It is no
accident that we have
achieved this level of
trust and governance.
The entire Santo Antônio
venture is based
on six years of studies
conducted jointly by Furnas
and Odebrecht,
which analyzed the
social, economic and
environmental aspects
of the project in depth.
The fact that the greatest
potential for hydropower generation in this energy sources. We want to have a very significant stake
country is located in the Amazon biome dictates the in this segment.
need for outstanding performance in environmental
management, ranging from project design to the OI – What is your overall assessment of Odebrecht
implementation of programs to mitigate and offset the Energia’s operations thus far?
environmental impacts of projects and promote the Valladares – We are optimistic about business opportunities
in Brazil and abroad. We are confident that Brazil’s
development of the people living in the vicinity of the
project. The best example is the Acreditar Professional regulatory model will be increasingly attractive for private
Education Program, which was first introduced in investors, and that we can help provide a safe, stable supply of
Santo Antônio and is now being deployed throughout electricity, which is vital to our country’s development. We also
the Odebrecht Organization. The greatest legacy of this hope to provide solutions that will enable Odebrecht Energia
program is the fact that more than 37,000 residents to grow organically, consolidating a generating capacity that
of Porto Velho and the surrounding region now have consists of additional sources of energy in Brazil and other
job skills that have created fresh prospects in their countries, generating results for Clients, Shareholders, Organization
members and society as a lives and minimized the negative impact that bringing
whole.
informa
27

28
The logistics of building the
Teles Pires hydroelectric plant
and forming the management
team in a remote part of northern
Brazil are a major challenge,
overcome with innovation
Encountering
Brazil
written by Rodrigo Vilar photos by Geraldo Pestalozzi
28
informa

In Salvador, Bahia, the work day began at dawn
for the Odebrecht Informa team reporting on the
magazine’s first feature story about the construction
of the Teles Pires Hydroelectric Plant, on the
border of the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and
Pará. Our journey started with a flight to Cuiabá with
a stop in Brasilia. After arriving in the state capital of
Mato Grosso, we traveled for another hour and a half
on a smaller plane to the town of Alta Floresta. There,
we were met by a car the project’s management team
had sent to take us on the final 52 km stretch, half of it
on dirt roads, and we finally reached Paranaíta, a town
of 7,000 that now houses the administrative base for the
project. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived at
the head office, and during our first conversation, the
officer Responsible for Communication for the project,
Ana Paula Silvestre, advised us: “Tomorrow we have to
travel over 95 km, about two and a half hours by dirt
road, to reach the construction site.”
The long trek to the jobsite is just one of many challenges
of carrying out a project for the Federal Government’s
Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), a hydro with
an installed capacity of 1,820 MW (megawatts) whose first
generator unit will go online by 2014. The winner of the
power generation auction held by the National Electrical
Energy Agency (ANEEL) in December 2010, Companhia
Hidrelétrica Teles Pires S/A, a Special Purpose Company
formed by Neoenergia (50.1%), Eletrobras Furnas (24.5
%), Eletrobras Eletrosul (24.5%) and Odebrecht Energia
(0.9%), is responsible for building and operating the plant.
Working under an EPC (engineering, procurement and
construction and installation) contract, Odebrecht is the
company in charge of civil construction and installation for
the project, which will create 6,000 direct job opportunities.
informa
29

The work order for installation of the jobsite was issued
in August 2011, but planning and mobilization began
much earlier. “On the Teles Pires project, I can safely say
that from the beginning of the financial engineering for the
project to the point where we are today, we have carried
out every item planned,” explains Project Director Antonio
Augusto Santos.
Thanks to the joint efforts of the project’s teams, by
October, 200 machines – out of a total 265 – were already
available at the company’s yard in Paranaíta. The equipment,
all brand new, came from Brazil, Sweden, Argentina,
the United States and Germany, representing a direct
investment of BRL 152.5 million from Odebrecht.
“In addition to the logistical challenge, the booming infrastructure
sector, thanks to the [2014 FIFA] World Cup
and major works in the energy sector, plus the overload
faced by the nation’s seaports, made the entire process
very complicated. Our success was mainly due to the competence
of the teams that developed and carried out this
plan,” says Antonio Augusto.
According to Victor Carvalho Marques, the officer Responsible
for Civil Works, Engineering and Equipment, the
decision to buy instead of rent was strategic. “You’re in a
remote area with limited access, so bringing in used equipment
could cause serious problems in terms of maintenance
and replacement. With new equipment, the possibility
of achieving expected performance is much higher, and
the sheer magnitude of the Teles Pires project should use
up almost half the lifetime of this machinery,” he explains.
A small city at the jobsite
One of the main challenges was to bring in the right
equipment, and another was attracting the right people
The Teles Pires River, where
the plant will be built. Below,
married couples working together
on the project, and the heavy
equipment that has already arrived
at the jobsite: planning and creativity
overcome isolation
for the project. “There will be 6,000 people housed at the
permanent construction site. It’s a small city. We’re going
to build recreational areas such as parks and sidewalks,
and there will be green areas, gazebos, restaurants, a
beauty salon and other facilities. These measures are
meant to be motivating, to enable people to live well, realize
their potential and develop through work,” explains
Antonio Augusto.
Because the jobsite is so remote, recruiting strategic
team members was a major issue. Antonio Augusto
himself came up with one solution: “We worked to identify
the skills and experience of the spouses of Odebrecht
members to match their expertise with the project’s
needs and invite them to work here as a couple.”
Spouses do not work on the same programs to avoid
any hitches in the assessment and development process.
Just counting the newlyweds, there are 12 married
couples at the jobsite. On October 12, at the request
of Odebrecht Informa, they all got together for dinner at
the group’s favorite restaurant.
30
informa

Coexistence and adaptation
Juliana Lima, 30, who has been with the Organization
for a year and four months, is responsible for People
and Organization at the Teles Pires Plant construction
project, which she joined at the feasibility study stage
in November 2010. She was also one of the first people
to arrive in Paranaíta in January 2011. For her, the biggest
challenge in those early months was being far away
from her family, especially her husband, Alberto Fraga,
30, whom she married six months ago. “I was over the
moon when the opportunity arose for Alberto to come
here as well,” she says, unable to hide the twinkle in her
eye. Alberto has a degree in fishing engineering and a
specialization in Safety Engineering, and joined the team
in April. Since then, he has been Responsible for Left
Bank Workplace Safety.
Unlike other colleagues in the same situation, who
preferred to rent houses while the residential village at the
jobsite is being built, the couple has been sharing a hotel
room in the quiet town of Paranáita for the last three
months. What might be hard for some is like shooting
fish in a barrel for Alberto. “I spent a year
and a half at sea on nine trips on fishing
boats. I lived and worked
alongside Chinese and
Spanish people
who were total strangers. Now, I’m living together with
my wife in a hotel room. It’s wonderful,” he says. “There’s
no comparison!” he adds, with a smile, hugging his wife
Juliana. She agrees. “He is very organized, and that makes
things easier for me. Being together is a motivating factor.”
Civil engineer Luciane Daltro, 32, the officer Responsible
for Costs, and her husband, Alessandro
Peixoto, 30, a sanitation and environmental engineer
who is working on the project’s Environment program,
have always wanted to harmonize their professional
and personal lives. They have been together for 10
years and married for three. Alessandro has worked
in the Brazilian cities of Manaus, Belém and Belo
Horizonte as well as in Argentina. Then, to top it off,
Luciane went to work for Odebrecht Angola in Africa
two years ago,.
“Now we have breakfast, lunch and dinner together.
Now we appreciate small details that we’ve never had
the chance to experience together,” she says. Sitting
beside her, Alessandro notes that some colleagues
are still adapting to life in such a small town, which
comes naturally for him. However, he emphasizes
that the important thing is to focus on the positive
side of this experience and the opportunities it offers.
“This large gathering that you are seeing here today
is normal for us. In our social lives, we might
want to get away from the difficulties of
the job, but not from the people
we work with. Bit by bit, we
are building one big
family.”
informa
31

frien
32
32
informa

dly
Odebrecht
makes its
debut in the
wind power
segment,
a priority
resource for
Brazil
Odebrecht Archives
winds
Bwritten by Cláudio Lovato Filho
razil wants to harness the winds that
blow in its favor. And soon, because
the pace and need for economic
growth require it. Investments in wind
power generation, among other renewable
energy sources such as ethanol and biomass,
will consolidate Brazil’s energy mix as the
cleanest and one of the most diversified in the
world. More options reduce the risk of dependence
on a single source. The wise old saying that you
shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket is very
apt in this case.
The nation is preparing to establish wind farms
in several regions, especially the South and Northeast,
where the winds have the most suitable characteristics
for energy generation. The sight of row
upon row of wind turbines will be increasingly common
in this country. To help energize this Brazilian
campaign to harness wind power, the Odebrecht
Organization has made its debut in this segment
through Odebrecht Energia, and Odebrecht Energias
Alternativas, an alternative energy company
created by Odebrecht Energia, is responsible for
wind power operations.
“Brazil wants to expand its wind energy generation
capacity from 1 gigawatt, recorded in 2010,
to 11.5 gigawatts by 2020,” says Fernando Chein,
the Director responsible for the Wind, Solar and
informa
33

SHP (small hydro) segment at Odebrecht Energia.
“The country’s wind power potential is over 150
gigawatts according to today’s figures,” he adds.
The goal of the Federal Government, set forth in
its Ten-Year Plan for Energy Expansion (PDE 2020),
is to make renewable sources total 46.3% of the
energy mix by 2020. In 2010, that percentage was
44.8%, behind oil and petroleum derivatives.
Future production
As the owner of the Corredor dos Senandes
Complex project in Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul,
Odebrecht Energia sold future energy production
from four wind farms at the Federal Reserve Auction
held on August 18, 2011. These farms include
Corredor dos Senandes 2, 3 and 4 and the Vento
Aragano 1. At the auction, Odebrecht sold 50.5
megawatts (MW) average at a rate of BRL 99.50 per
MWh (megawatt/hour). To do so, it will have to install
116.9 MW of total capacity in wind farms. The
contract signed with the CCEE (Chamber of Electric
Energy Sales) is for 20 years. The wind farms
will be established as of June 2012. Initial generation
is expected to begin by June 2014.
At the moment, the company is covering several
fronts at once under the direct leadership of Walter
Tatoni, the officer Responsible for Wind Energy Investments
at Odebrecht Energia: obtaining permis-
34
informa

Illustration
This montage shows what Odebrecht’s wind farms in Rio
Grande will look like. Smaller photo: Mayor Fábio Branco: “We
need to make the most of our resources as soon as possible”
sion for exploration from the grantor, consolidation
of all documentation necessary to obtain the permits
required for the deployment of wind farms (particularly
environmental permits), forming and grooming
the management team and setting up the farms,
awarding contracts for goods and services, including
wind turbines supplied by Alstom (the company
responsible for the manufacturing, operations and
maintenance of turbines), and seeking approval of
funding from BNDES, Brazil’s national socioeconomic
development bank.
“In its role as an investor, operator and seller
of energy, Odebrecht Energia wants to reach
10,000 MW of own generation by 2020,” says Wal-
Photo: Eduardo Beleske
informa
35

Alstom’s new factory in
Camaçari: investing in
technology to develop wind
turbines
Photo: Márcio Lima
ter. “Wind energy will provide a major boost to
achieve this goal.”
The company’s specific expertise and knowledge
related to wind power is a result of the immersion
of its members in this new world, and their
experience in other segments of the energy sector.
“We’ve been studying this area for over a year,”
says Marco Rabello, CFO of Odebrecht Energia. “It
has its own unique characteristics,” he explains,
referring to the wind power industry. They include
new requirements for documents and wind measurement,
which are key to determining whether a
business is viable or not.
Fernando Chein is very pleased with the present
stage of the stimulus program for alternative energy
sources, particularly wind, but has one caveat:
“I believe that auctions should be held for specific
sources or regions, so that they can balance the
energy mix. We should encourage investments in
all sources. Competition among them may not be
beneficial in the long term. These sources need to
be complementary.” Marco Rabello adds: “Wind farms
should only compete with each other.” Today, the
auctions cover all energy sources, and a momentary
price advantage for one source over another
(or others) could harm one of them and, consequently,
its supply chain.
Seventy turbines
on four wind farms
The four wind farms whose energy was sold at
auction on August 18 will receive a total of 70 wind
turbines manufactured by Alstom at its factory in
the Camaçari Industrial Complex in Bahia, which
began operations in the second half of 2011. The
turbines will be 95 m high, and the blades will be
86 m in diameter. Their generating power per unit
will be 1.67 MW.
The Corredor dos Senandes Complex contains
a total of seven wind farms and has a generating
potential of 175 MW. In addition to the four farms
whose electricity has already been sold, the company
plans to establish three more: Corredor dos
Senandes 1, Vento Aragano 3 and Capão Grande.
36
informa

But that’s not all. In Rio Grande do Sul, Odebrecht
Energia also intends to develop the Povo
Novo Wind Complex, formed by the wind farms
of Porto Novo (7.5 MW), Fazenda Veracruz (22.5
MW) and Curupira (25 MW), located about 40 km
from the Corredor dos Senandes Complex. And the
company’s investments are not restricted to the
South of Brazil. In the northeastern state of Ceará,
the company acquired the Aracati Mutamba Wind
Complex project in August 2011, comprised of 10
wind farms with a capacity of 240 MW. In addition,
there are plans to invest in greenfield projects in
Bahia.
“Brazil has excellent winds,” says Fernando
Chein. “In the Northeast, they are very strong,
but more variable. In the South, the winds are
less intense but they’re steady.” The development
of specific technologies by manufacturers
ensures the best possible use of different types
of wind.
“We are honored to be the first supplier for Odebrecht
Energia’s wind power segment. Our ambition
is to become the company’s partner in all
phases of these projects, from the location of wind
farms to supply,” says Marcos Costa, Alstom’s Vice
President for Power in Latin America. The wind
turbine factory recently opened by Alstom, a longstanding
Odebrecht partner for projects in the energy
sector, is ready to make equipment capable
of generating up to 300 MW/year. “The Brazilian
government has prioritized wind power, and Alstom
wants to be a part of that effort. We have built
a factory in Camaçari for that purpose.” Marcos
Costa also observes that his company is currently
developing a new wind turbine specifically for Latin
America and Brazil: ECO 122, with a 122-m diameter
propeller and power of 2.7 MW. “ECO 122 is
100% suitable for Brazilian winds,” he says.
“We want to harness
our potential”
These constantly evolving turbines will soon
begin to occupy rural areas of Rio Grande, in the
southern part of Rio Grande do Sul. A city whose
development is historically linked to its seaport –
which is once again receiving substantial investments
to increase its capacity to move cargo and
host major maritime projects – its economy will
also get a significant boost from wind farms.
Mayor Fábio Branco emphasizes that the aim is
to diversify the city’s economic activities by making
the most of its natural advantages. “We want to
harness our potential,” he says. “For Rio Grande,
the deployment of wind farms is a watershed. It
will mean a paradigm shift and will have a positive
impact on our entire supply chain,” he predicts.
This is because the arrival of the companies involved
in these projects will provide direct and indirect
work opportunities, increasing employment
and income levels and providing more possibilities
for academic institutions. “As the government, we
want to be facilitators of the process of installing
wind farms. We have an excellent relationship
with the private sector, represented in this case by
Odebrecht, a company that is committed to its local
communities.” Fábio Branco clearly has high
hopes. “We need to make the most of our resources
as soon as possible. Today’s winds will never
blow here again.”
informa
37

to living
Angola invests heavily
in taking electricity to its
people in several parts
of the country
38
38
informa

oom
written by João Marcondes
photos by Guilherme Afonso
From power plant
Lopes Sebastião
(background, left)
and his family: more
comfortable times
informa informa 39

Sebastião Lopes has had several “rebirths”
in his lifetime. In the 1940s, he
earned a living as a farm worker, digging
the soil with his own hands in the
province of Uige in northern Angola,
still a little-urbanized area near the border with Congo.
After 10 or 12 hours in the fields, he would take
some firewood home. Firewood was synonymous with
energy in those days. Time passed and in the following
decades Lopes began using oil lamps. They only
provided enough dim light to ward off the threatening
noises in the night. The world around him also
changed. In the mid-1970s, Angola became independent,
but energy was still scarce. At the end of the last
century, Lopes started using a more powerful energy
source: a noisy and expensive generator that blackened
his mud house with soot and spat smoke in the
eyes of his wife, children and grandchildren.
For eight years now, the armed conflicts in Angola
have been a thing of the past, and 2012 will be special,
due to the direct presidential elections. Before
going out to cast his vote, Lopes will be able to take a
hot shower and put on his best suit. What has really
revolutionized the life of this resident of the village of
Negage was a click. A switch. Pure energy, electricity.
Now he has a deep-freeze, so food stays fresh longer,
and his family, starting with his wife, Luiza Lando, is
enjoying a more comfortable way of life.
Dynamo
In order for electricity to reach the homes of Lopes
and thousands of other people like him, Odebrecht has
built the 220 kV (kilovolt) Energy Transportation System
linking the Capanda hydroelectric plant to the province
of Uige, covering a total of 270 km. The Capanda hydro
was Odebrecht’s first project in that country, begun in
the 1980s, but the company did not stop at building power
plants. Getting energy to consumers is just as important
as making turbines spin, so Odebrecht has installed
a total of 800 km of transmission lines to date. Besides
Capanda-Uige, which benefited the Lopes family, another
recently completed project is the 300-km transmission
line (400 kV) linking Capanda and the Luanda
metropolitan region. In addition to these lines and substations,
the company has electrified six cities between
Capanda and Uige, benefiting over 5,000 families. But
this is just a small sample of what needs to be done.
“The Government is planning specific programs
to extend electrification to urban, peri-urban and rural
areas of the country on a massive scale. We are
also giving our full support for this initiative,” says
Wagner Santana, the Project Director for Transmission
Lines.
Energy is a priority in Angola. Only 30% of its people
have access to electricity today. The nation’s estimated
population totals 20 million people, and it currently
produces 1,300 MW of power (50% thermal and
50% hydroelectric). The demand is for 4,000 MW (just
for consumers, not counting industry). “Angola may
even become an exporter of electricity in Southern
Africa,” says Carlos Mathias, Director of Odebrecht
Angola. “We also want to act as investors, through
public-private partnerships.”
The Angolan Minister of Water and Power, Emanuela
Vieira Lopes, said recently in the Angolan publication
Estratégia: “We intend to grow the energy sector
so that the population enjoys wellbeing and there is
economic growth. By 2017, Angola should have the
capacity to produce energy, meet its domestic demand
and start exporting to other countries.” Odebrecht
is playing a leading role in this effort. In addition
to installing transmission lines and building the
iconic Capanda plant, the company is helping build
and refurbish two structures that are key to develop-
40
informa

Fernando Neves in
Cambambe: witnessing
Angola’s growth
ing the capacity Minister Vieira Lopes mentioned: the
Gove and Cambambe hydroelectric plants.
El Dorado
“El Dorado” or “the Golden One.” A legendary
place of great wealth (gold and silver) relentlessly
pursued by the Spanish colonizers of the Americas
in the 16th century. Africa also had its El Dorado,
pursued by the Portuguese in the 1500s right here
in Angola, more precisely in the Cambambe Mountains.
It was believed that the region contained vast
mineral wealth, ever since King Manuel I of Portugal
received a silver bracelet as a gift from the
King of Congo. The Portuguese sovereign was also
informed that that piece of jewelry had come from
the Cambambe region, 200 km from where Luanda
stands today.
Expeditions were sent out in search of silver, the
first one headed by Manuel Pacheco and Baltazar de
Castro in 1520. The silver was never found, but they
explored the Kwanza River, the largest in the country,
as far as a narrow gorge. A perfect place to build
a dam. And the Portuguese themselves did just that
in 1950. The 180-MW Cambambe hydroelectric plant
became an important source of energy for the country,
but its expansion (also by the Portuguese) was
never completed. Due to irregular maintenance in
times of war, the plant’s energy production was affected
and its capacity fell to just 90 MW.
But all that changed when Odebrecht resumed
work on the expansion project in 2005. When completed,
the new Cambambe dam will generate up to
960 MW of power. The project is complex: it involves
the restoration of Plant no. 1, which will have 260 MW
of power, and the construction of Plant no. 2, with a
capacity of 700 MW. It also includes increasing the
height of the dam, which will rise by another 30 m,
and building a lateral spillway to protect the dam in
the rainy season. “We will produce renewable energy
for about 8 million people with a hydroelectric project
that has been central to the history of Angola and is
essential for its future,” stresses Gustavo Belitardo,
Project Director for Cambambe.
Cambambe will be one of the largest hydroelectric
projects in Angola. Construction should be fully completed
by 2015. However, one man has been there since
its inception back in 1950. His name is Fernando Pedro
Santos Neves, 60. He has seen Portuguese, French,
Swiss people come and go. He has watched his coworkers
battle diseases like malaria, cholera and yellow
fever (his father worked as a nurse on the project). He
has also witnessed conflicts in his country.
The work started, stopped, and got going again.
Fernando Neves guarantees that at no time did he
informa
41

think that the initial project, which already included
the two plants, would never be completed. He used
to work as an electrician at the water treatment station,
in the administrative sector. In the 1980s, he saw
the construction of Capanda and foresaw a future for
Cambambe. Now retired, but the owner of a firm that
still provides services for the project, Fernando looks
back on the full cycle. “The feeling I have after all
these years is that I’m seeing my country grow.”
The country will grow, and so will the exploitation of
the hydroelectric potential of the Kwanza River, which
is 960 km long. In its waters, two major projects are
awaiting tenders: the prodigious Laúca (2,067 MW)
and Caculo-Cabaça (2,053 MW) dams.
workers learn job skills. The Odebrecht teams have
also developed programs to combat HIV/AIDS and
ensure safe childbirths, and especially to encourage
children to stay in school. In 2008 there were 80 workers
from the commune working on the project, and
today that number has grown to 500, which corre-
Gove
While there is still much work to be done at Cambambe,
another Angolan project is almost ready: the
rehabilitation of the Gove dam and the construction of
the 60 MW hydroelectric plant of the same name, in
the Cuíma commune in Huambo province. Civil construction
and electromechanical assembly are nearing
completion. Expectations are that this project will
be delivered by June 2012, and the first unit will begin
generating power by the end of the March of that year.
The energy Gove produces will supply the provinces of
Huambo (120 km from Gove) and Bie (230 km away),
serving approximately 3 million people.
The Gove project has a special history. Begun in
the 1960s, it was the first dam on the Cunene and
was responsible for the regulation of that river so
that other hydroelectric plants and agricultural projects
could be deployed downstream. In the 90s, the
dam was sabotaged, almost ruining its structure. In
2008, Odebrecht started rehabilitating the partially
destroyed dam and building the powerhouse and substation.
Due to years of armed conflict, the region is
underdeveloped, but the arrival and development of
this project is changing all that.
“When we got here, we couldn’t hire most of the
local workforce because the people were still frightened
and didn’t have the skills to work on this kind of
project – they are humble people, fishermen, small
farmers, but willing to learn and develop,” says Project
Director Marcus Azeredo.
When the right conditions were in place, the “I
Learned at Gove” project was born, through which
42
informa

Installing a turbine
at the Gove hydroelectric
plant: energy for
3 million people
sponds to 62% of the current workforce. Now, thanks
to the number of people at work on the project, the
village of Gove is preparing to become a small town,
a municipality. More than just bringing electricity, the
measures Odebrecht has taken in Gove, in conjunction
with the client – the Office for the Administration
of the Cunene River Hydroelectric Basin (Gabhic)
of the Ministry of Energy and Water (Minea) – have
shown how a project can energize and empower a
community.
Lopes, whose story we told at the beginning of
this report, has directly benefited from Odebrecht’s
work. His neighbor in Negage, a civil servant
named Daniel Neto, remembers the day (December
15, 2010) when electric lights first came on in
the unpaved street where they live. “It was a great
feeling. You know what’s even more amazing? Most
people there had never seen that kind of light, so
bright and powerful. Others had only seen it in Luanda,”
he says. “The kids couldn’t stop crying and
cheering.”
One of humankind’s most popular forms of entertainment,
commonplace for many, is now part of
the residents’ lives: watching TV. Fatima, 12, Daniel’s
daughter, does not miss a single episode of the Brazilian
soap India – A Love Story. Her father likes it too,
although he thinks soap operas are for kids. Fatima
enjoys watching TV, but is quick to conclude why having
electricity is so important. “Now I can study at
night, and have a future. A better future for me and
Angola. Through light.”
Grooming and educating people
As always on Odebrecht projects, these construction
works are not just about physical structures but
also about human beings. They are providing more
than 1,500 direct job opportunities, as well as skills
taught through the Acreditar Ongoing Professional
Qualification Program. Odebrecht projects employ
about 17,000 members across the country, 93% of
whom are Angolans.
During a recent visit to Angola, when he attended
President Roussef’s speech before the National Assembly,
Marcelo Odebrecht, President and CEO of Odebrecht
S.A., observed: “When a Brazilian company comes here,
it hires local workers and develops the supply chain. In
our projects, we bring Brazilians over to deploy our entrepreneurial
culture, but as this process moves ahead,
we come to rely solely on the Angolans.”
An important part of the transmission line project,
for example, was educating Angolan workers from
the National Power Company (ENE) to operate the
substations.
informa
43

44
Getting
market
coal to
written by João Marcondes
photos by Guilherme Afonso
44
informa

The Moatize mine in the
interior of Mozambique:
one of the largest in Africa
In Mozambique,
the main challenges
surrounding a key
product for the nation’s
economy are logistical
and technological
informa
45

In August 2011, train cars loaded with coal followed
the path of the Sena-Beira railway line
in Mozambique. The trains belong to Vale, the
Brazilian mining company, and each was loaded
with 35,000 tonnes of product. After arriving in
the port city of Beira, the coal was loaded onto a ship
and exported to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
At first glance, this seems like a simple itinerary.
However, the logistics behind it required sophisticated
work from the engineering standpoint. “What we’re
doing here can be considered the state of the art in
technology,” observes Vale Production Director Paulo
Horta.
Tete is a city deep in the heart of Mozambique
where Vale has obtained the rights to develop one
of the largest coal mines in Africa for 35 years (from
2007). This is not ordinary coal, but coking coal used
in the steel industry. It is more valuable and rare than
thermal coal. The mine’s current capacity is 11 million
tonnes of both kinds of coal (75% coking and 25%
thermal) per year, but expectations are that its production
will double.
Odebrecht International is the main contractor
building the civil works for the coal mine, as well as
the port through which the product will be exported. At
the Moatize mine, the company is part of an alliance
in which it has a 75% stake (Camargo Correa has a
25% stake). At the temporary Pier 8 terminal project in
the Port of Beira, Odebrecht International is the sole
contractor.
The numbers for the construction works begun in
2008 are impressive: 130,000 m3 of concrete, 535,000
machine hours worked, and 140 km of pipelines (for
the mine alone). Odebrecht International’s Project
Director, Paulo Brito, highlights the synergy among
the companies involved. “We have become a model
for this alliance for Vale, which fosters a positive atmosphere
for new businesses and partnerships,” he
notes, while stressing the benefits for Mozambique:
“There has been tremendous job creation associated
with a significant increase in consumption.” Osvaldo
Adachi, Vale’s General Construction Manager, adds:
“According to the local authorities, electricity consumption
has grown by 90% in Tete. This is a city that
had almost been abandoned, and now several markets
and hotels have been built, and the car fleet has
grown by leaps and bounds.”
Relocating homes
The concession for the Moatize mine in the district
of Moatize, in Tete province, covers a 24,000-hectare
area. One major challenge was relocating the homes
of a thousand families. The alliance has built two
settlements containing nearly a thousand homes,
schools, open-air markets, parks, farms and pastures.
Mozambicans have access to a varied range of
social projects developed by Odebrecht International
and Vale: campaigns to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria prevention,
job training, environmental education, health
programs and digital inclusion.
One of the most significant initiatives is the Read+
program, led by Claudia Andrade, Head of Social Programs,
and Social Projects Analyst José Piquitai, a
Mozambican member of Odebrecht International who
has extensive experience with NGOs in his country.
Developed by Odebrecht and Vale, this program has
introduced a powerful new tool for more than 1,000
children between the ages of 8 and 12: reading (and
consequently writing).
“This is a community where the oral tradition is
very strong, but it is not the custom to keep written
records. And we are speaking of a country that has
experienced many historic events in the recent past,”
says Piquitai. Mozambique gained its independence
from Portugal in 1975 and then went through a civil
war that lasted until 1992. “There are many unwritten
stories here, but that will change. We intend to turn
Moatize into a cultural hub. And one of the first stories
to be told will be the trajectory of coal. That will be
recorded,” he says with pride.
The Pier 8 terminal will be
capable of exporting
6 million tonnes per year
46
informa

Pier 8
José Piquitai:
oral tradition
Once it is shipped from the mine, the coal goes on a
600-km journey from Moatize to Beira, one of the largest
cities in the country, with about 200,000 inhabitants.
The Pier 8 project is complex because it involves
a railway line and a port. It has to be built in record
time to be ready by the end of this year. Nevertheless,
it has already made it possible to dispatch the first
shipment of coal, which was loaded onto a ship for export.
The second shipment is scheduled for November
2011. “We don’t have much time. We have less than
a year to finish the job, because coal is already being
mined in Tete,” says Odebrecht International Project
Director Nuno Teixeira, a Portuguese national.
The Pier 8 terminal will be able to export 6 million
tonnes of product per year. The project involves the construction
of rail yards for 600-m trains with 42 cars, coal
storage systems and internal transport (with a storage
capacity of up to 300,000 t) and the pier itself, through
which the product will be shipped and exported. “After
that, we do a transshipment operation (transferring the
cargo from one ship to another) on the high seas, because
the port of Beira is shallow,” explains Vale Construction
Manager Francisco Bender.
The client for this project is the state rail company
Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique – CFM. Vale will
be entitled to use the port, under specific terms. CFM
required that the entire structure of the old terminal be
dismantled and stored for recycling or reuse on other
projects. It was a huge job that began in October 2010,
when the construction project started, and ended in late
November. It included dismantling 60 old train cars that
had been corroded by time and the weather. “It was a
painstaking effort,” says Production Manager Mário Pelicano.
“Our operation involved relationships with several
local suppliers.”
The workdays were hectic in Beira, with its magnificent
views of the Indian Ocean (hence its tremendous
capacity to export goods to Asia, a booming market).
Odebrecht International sent its quality of life and social
projects team to the city, led by Cíntia Santana.
Among other initiatives, she focused on the Young
Partner Program, which included young professionals
like Paulo Jonatan Guesela Mata, 22, who graduated
in Public Administration in June this year.
“Anyone looking at this from the outside would not
believe that the work of so many different people could
produce a single outcome,” says Paulo Jonatan, referring
to the Babel of nationalities at the jobsite. There
are Filipinos, Colombians, South Africans, Ecuadorians,
and, of course, Brazilians, Portuguese and Mozambicans
working there. “I didn’t think a project involving
people from so many different countries could
go this smoothly.”
informa
47

A long-awaited day fulfills great
expectati
written by Emanuela Sombra
photos by Carlos Júnior
Dilma Marçal:
in September, the joy
of flicking a switch and
seeing a light go on
48
48
informa

ons
Partes antes
inúteis do gado
abatido são
aproveitadas por
um biodigestor
instalado em um
matadouro no
The Light for
All Program
takes electricity
to people who
once depended
on candles, oil
lamps and diesel
generators
texto Renata Meyer
informa
49

The rural area of Jequitaí, 400 km from
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil: surrounded
by eucalyptus plantations, Dilma
Marçal lives on a small farm where she
raises cattle and makes cheese for sale.
The symmetrically planted trees turn her home into a
distant spot in the middle of a huge maze where electricity
arrived not long ago. There are no shops, paved
roads or traffic noise. There are no neighbors.
For 33 years, the farmer has lived in her rustic threeroom
home with the basic necessities: a wood stove, a
bed, wooden benches, a crank grinder and books on the
shelf. In September, she had the pleasure of flicking a
switch and seeing a light go on in her kitchen where a
gas lamp had hung before. At the age of 55, she is now
considering whether to buy a TV, electric showerhead,
refrigerator and stereo for the very first time. “Secondhand,
of course.”
Now that electricity has arrived, the farmer’s greatest
joy is not being able to watch the soaps or store food in
the freezer. Not at all. “My greatest pleasure is charging
my cell phone. I was fed up with having to go into town to
do it,” she says, smiling and pointing to the light switch
in her living room. Cell phone service had reached the
farmer’s house before electric lights did.
Light for Minas Gerais
Lives like hers have been transformed in the farthest
corners of rural Minas Gerais, through the work
of teams from the Light for All program, which is taking
electricity to people who once could only rely on candles,
oil lamps and diesel generators to light their homes. In
Minas Gerais, the Federal program has partnered with
the State Government to install a network that will cover
a total of 85,500 km. The amount of cable used is enough
to go around the Earth 2.5 times.
Converted into the number of beneficiary families,
that impressive mileage takes on social contours: following
the completion of the third stage of the program
in February 2012, more than 285,000 new electricity
connections have been made in Minas Gerais. In
the third stage, the Consórcio Luz para Minas – a joint
venture led by Odebrecht Infraestrutura – is responsible
for tackling the challenge of increasing “energy
inclusion” and improving the quality of life of Minas
Gerais residents.
Odebrecht has been helping make this dream come
true since the first stage of the program began in 2005.
“Instead of working on a single construction site, we
have teams spread across an entire state,” says José
Eduardo de Sousa Quintella, the Project Director at Luz
para Minas.
The challenge the teams are facing begins with the
identification of future beneficiaries: homes, churches,
schools, businesses and community centers located in
rural areas. After they have registered future users, a
logistical study is carried out in the areas to be served.
If the terrain is mountainous or steep, the materials are
transported by ox cart instead of by car or truck. In these
situations, wooden poles usually replace concrete ones
due to the topography in the region.
In all these situations, the teams view these challenges
enthusiastically. “Our job is not to put a power
pole near a person. It is to install the pole, go into their
house, and install lights and outlets,” says Quintella,
who is visibly moved when he recalls seeing families use
a blender or stereo for the first time.
Raimundo Costa: “I love listening to the news”
The radio keeps him company
Raimundo da Costa is one of those people. The
71-year-old pensioner remembers exactly which appliance
he plugged in first four months ago, when the
joint venture’s teams arrived at his small farm in Montes
Claros: a radio. “I love listening to the news, comedy
shows and music,” he says as he puts a CD of country
music on the stereo.
A study conducted by the Ministry of Mines and Energy
shows that stereos are the third most popular elec-
50
informa

Light for All program
workers in Minas Gerais:
installing a 85,500 km
network
tronic items purchased by residents of rural areas that
now have power in their homes - 45.4% of families buy
them as soon as they get electricity. They come behind
two other electric appliances that are very common in
most Brazilian homes: TV sets (79.3%) and refrigerators
(73.3%).
Ricardo Charbel, the Superintendent for Planning,
Research and Projection at Companhia Energetica de
Minas Gerais (Cemig), the state power company, has
been closely monitoring the project and is also moved
by the dramatic change it is making in people’s lives.
He remembers the pensioner who started seeing more
of his grandchildren after buying a television set, the
housewife who started going to night school, the women
who started a sewing cooperative, and more. “One man
told me how hard it was to make a purchase because he
didn’t have a delivery address. Thanks to the light bill, he
now has proof of address,” he recalls.
According to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the
arrival of electricity makes it easier to consolidate social
programs and provides access to basic sanitation,
health services and education. Another positive impact
of the program is containing the rural exodus: since the
implementation of the program began, 4.8% of Brazilian
families have moved to rural areas served by Light for All.
This was the case with housewife Sara da Fonseca.
After her eldest son passed the entrance exam at the
Federal University at Vale do Jequitinhonha, the family
moved from Greater Belo Horizonte to rural Diamantina.
“It was tough at first. We knew the program would
get here eventually, but we spent a few months in the
dark until the installation team arrived. I have asthma,
and had to go in to town to use the nebulizer.”
Sara is celebrating three months with electric power
at home. Now they can use electronic items brought in
from the state capital – a washing machine, computer,
microwave and electric showerhead, all commonly
found in middle-class homes. “We used to have a good
standard of living, and spending time with no electricity
at all made us realize that the smallest things can give
us pleasure. After Light for All, logging onto the internet
or watching a movie takes on a whole new meaning.”
In Minas Gerais, the program’s name is taken to
heart. Although, according to national statistics, 90% of
the families served are low-income households earning
less than three minimum monthly salaries, Light for
All does not discriminate between rich and poor communities.
In the third stage alone, 544 Minas Gerais
municipalities are being been served simultaneously.
“Odebrecht is playing a very important role in implementing
the Light for All program. We have carried out
the largest rural electrification program in the history
of our company in record time,” says Djalma Bastos de
Morais, President of Cemig.
informa
51

52
Powered by
livestoc
Mayor Julio
Romano and
slaughterhouse
workers:
biodigester
energizes La
Candelaria’s
economy
52
informa

k
written by Luiz Carlos Ramos
photos by Holanda Cavalcanti
A biodigester
installed in
a slaughterhouse
in the Argentine
village of La
Candelaria uses
parts of slaughtered
cattle that once
went to waste
One of the largest producers and exporters
of beef in the world, Argentina
is witnessing the transformation
into energy of parts of cattle once
considered useless. The economy
of La Candelaria, a village in the province of Salta,
near the Andes mountains and close to the borders
with Chile and Bolivia, revolves around livestock.
The herds of small farmers provide milk and meat.
What is more, the bones of each slaughtered animal
are used for fertilizer; the horns, for crafts, and
leather for shoes, handbags, clothes and carpets.
In this quiet corner of the country, which is home to
2,000 inhabitants, the most recent innovation is that
the cattle’s blood and offal are now being utilized as
well. Instead of being discarded, they are fed into
a biodigester and converted into gas, generating
energy for a boiler to heat water for the slaughterhouse
and saving electricity without harming the
environment.
A pipeline that Odebrecht has installed in Argentina
runs through La Candelaria. It is part of the network
that crosses the country from north to south,
and west to east. The compressor unit for the northern
section was installed a few miles from town. To
help the community, Odebrecht formed a working
group to install a 30 m3 biodigester – a mini-biogas
plant. The idea was approved, and they just needed
to decide on the location. They chose the municipal
slaughterhouse, where conditions were very poor,
which set a further challenge.
“Previously, hygiene and working conditions at
the slaughterhouse were limited,” says the newly
re-elected Mayor of La Candelaria, Julio Romano,
40, who has been in office for four years. He says:
“Thanks to the renovation of the premises and the
installation of the biodigester, it is now cleaner,
more efficient, and safer.” In June this year, the
new era for the slaughterhouse got underway in the
presence of Salta Governor Juan Manuel Urtuvey.
Veterinary inspection
The abattoir operates two days a week, slaughtering
an average of 15 heads of cattle per day.
That number will increase as livestock production
grows in the region to supply some of the butchers
in southern Salta and the northern part of neighbor-
informa
53

ing Tucuman province. “For the full package, a fee
of 40 pesos (USD 20.00) is charged to the owner of
each animal slaughtered,” says Manager Alejandro
Melián: “This price includes cleaning the carcass,
which is stored for 24 hours in a cold room before
going on to the consumer. Soon it will also be possible
to slaughter goats, lambs and piglets from
this region as well.”
Damián Leal, Ruben Dario Aguilera and Luis
Jurado, members of the slaughterhouse staff,
agree on the benefits of the refurbishing project.
“Thanks to the biodigester we can heat water to
clean the building and shower after work,” says
Damián. “The water used to be cold,” recalls Ruben
Dario. “Now there are no more bad smells
like we had when cattle waste was burned here,”
says Luis. The veterinarian Martin Syan travels
from San Miguel de Tucumán to La Candelaria
to inspect the animals on slaughter days. He
reports: “The site has improved a lot. It is more
hygienic thanks to the new floor and biodigester.
The animals are now slaughtered with the help
of an electric shock to the head, putting an end
to the suffering caused by the old system using
knives.”
Maurício Barbosa Peres, the Odebrecht Manager
for Administration and Finance on the pipeline
expansion project, recalls the work the company
has done in recent years to install pipelines,
building compressors along the lines and supporting
communities: “In 2008 we had the idea of installing
a biodigester in a local town. After studying
the matter, we decided on the slaughterhouse
in La Candelaria.” The current amount of gas the
biodigester produces is minimal compared to the
vast network that supplies the country, but it sets
an example for other slaughterhouses in South
America: “It is a means of generating energy and
preserving the environment.”
Guillermo Flanigan, an Argentine national from
Buenos Aires, is Responsible for Administration at
Odebrecht for the pipeline expansion project. He
explains: “In La Candelaria, we first thought of installing
the biodigester in the town school, but the
experts concluded that the slaughterhouse would
be the ideal location because we would have products
that could be converted into gas. The blood
and offal would be more useful. So, we negotiated
with the mayor and partner companies.”
Young environmental engineers
One of those partners is IBS Córdoba, which
has assigned three young Argentine environmental
engineering specialists – Tomás Portela and
Lucas Carissimi, both 27, and Luz María Tebaldi,
29 – to supervise the installation of the biodigester
in La Candelaria. “The slaughterhouse really
needed a complete overhaul,” argues Tomás. “After
six months of work earlier this year, everything
was ready,” says Lucas. Luz observes that
they put together an Operating Manual for the
Biodigester, which they delivered to the mayor
and employees of the slaughterhouse. IBS is celebrating
the news that companies in Panama and
Costa Rica have expressed interest in deploying
this system in Central America.
The process in La Candelaria was supported by an
Argentine government agency, the National Agricultural
Technology Institute (INTA), of which Alejandro
Saavedra, an expert on alternative technologies, is a
member. “We followed of every step of the project and
concluded that it is bringing benefits for livestock production,
generating clean energy and making it possible
to use cattle byproducts as a form of biofertilizer.”
Marina Gonzalez Ugarte, who supervises Odebrecht’s
social and sustainability programs in Argentina,
made several trips from Buenos Aires to
La Candelaria to take part in the biodigester project.
In October, she attended a luncheon offered
to the visitors by Mayor Julio Romano and his wife,
Maxima, and saw the town’s enthusiasm with the
changes that have come about in recent months.
“The community is thrilled. Now they can invest
more and improve their quality of life,” says Marina.
Mayor Romano, a small farmer, takes the
achievements brought about by the biodigester
into account and is already envisioning other
ways of creating jobs in La Candelaria. “We have
great weather, beautiful scenery, excellent wine
and a rich cuisine. We can attract more visitors
from Argentina and abroad. Italian businessmen
have made investments here, like Estancia El
Milagro, a rural hotel which has been refurbished
and has already hosted European visitors.”
54
informa

Ensenada: the work
is done while the
YPF refinery is fully
operational
The view up
high
written by Luiz Carlos Ramos
photos by Holanda Cavalcanti
Expanding the production
capacity of the YPF petrochemical
plant in La Plata gives a major
boost to the current phase
of economic growth in Argentina
informa
55

The current cycle of economic development
in Argentina will get a significant
boost as of August 2012: the expansion
of production at a major petrochemical
company in that country, which will
increase its gas processing capacity by up to 60%.
It will also produce an aromatic compound (BTX),
thereby energizing the production of high quality
gasoline. The project, carried out by Odebrecht for
the former Argentine state company YPF (Yacimientos
Petroliferos Fiscales) in the town of Ensenada, in
the La Plata metropolitan area, is in its final stages.
This is the first continuous catalytic reforming unit
(CCR) installed in Argentina, a modern new facility
built inside YPF’s original installations.
Odebrecht Informa visited Ensenada and witnessed
the driving energy of a project that is going
on without affecting the petrochemical complex’s
current production. Hundreds of workers from Argentina,
Brazil and other South American countries
are converting sectors, building towers and installing
massive pipelines in a revolution symbolized by the
new 115 m high torch that will operate 1,300 meters
from the old one, which will be disabled. The torch is
used to burn off gas that has no commercial value.
Project Director Carlos Alberto Coutinho confirms
the fast pace and explains: “In order to prepare the
connection between the old and new sectors, we
carried out a technical shutdown in four units for 30
days from mid-May through mid-June, and everything
went well. This project is part of an effort to
increase fuel production and thereby meet the growing
demand for a country that is experiencing major
economic development.”
YPF is a subsidiary of the Spanish Repsol Group,
which owns a 57.43% stake in the company. Since
2008 it has been run by Petersen, an Argentine group
owned by the Eskenazi family, which holds 25.46%
of its shares, in addition to being responsible for its
management, with the 17% remaining shares listed
on the Stock Exchange. The project being carried out
at YPF in Ensenada is based on three steps: first,
through the CCR, it can increase production of gasoline;
the second step is to adapt the current facilities,
and the third involves the interconnection of the new
facilities with the old. “The result will be a cuttingedge
petrochemical plant,” says Coutinho.
A multinational
environment:
workers from
Argentina,
Brazil and other
South American
countries are
taking part in
this project
The heart of the unit
Argentine civil engineer Pablo Brottier, from Odebrecht,
is Responsible for New Business on the team
of the Odebrecht CEO for Argentina, Flávio Faria. Until
August 2011, Brottier was the Director of the project
underway in Ensenada. He says the CCR and the
new facilities under construction can be described as
the “heart” of the virgin naphtha processing unit, which
produces aromatic compounds.
“Currently, the petrochemical plant needs to carry
out a technical shutdown every year to refurbish the
catalyst,” says Brottier. “However, by using the con-
56
informa

tinuous catalyst regeneration process, this new unit
will extend the operating cycle to four years. Therefore,
the equipment will not lose money. Increased
production of 60% is based on this benefit and the
modernization of the entire Ensenada complex.” He
points out that the technical shutdown carried out
to adapt the complex involved four huge cranes, 26
new machines, six processing towers, 76 tonnes of
tubes, 700 valves, 38 t of new structures and more
than 13,000 m of cable.
Estéban Trouet, born in Córdoba, Argentina, is the
Construction Manager for the project. He explains that
one of the challenges that he and his team faced was
the fact that the work would be done in a limited physical
space while the petrochemical plant was fully operational.
“We completed important steps through creative
and safe solutions,” recalls Trouet, a graduate of
the Odebrecht Organization’s Program for Developing
Entrepreneurs (PDE) in 2009. The new refinery equipment,
manufactured in Argentina, Brazil, Italy, South
Korea, Japan, China and the United States, will make
2012 a watershed year in centuries of struggle to obtain
energy from oil in Argentina. Ensenada will go down in
that country’s history as a synonym for progress.
informa
57

ARGUMENT
Energy: fresh
paradigms
The knowledge and
technologies developed
in the future are even
more important than the
energy resources Brazil
has today
58
58
informa

Dreaming up future scenarios for
the economy and society has always
been a fascinating exercise.
Gone are the days when it was the
exclusive province of science fiction
and novels for young adults. Today, backed
by a wide range of technologies, specialists from
different areas are dedicated to that pursuit, because
their knowledge is vital for the analysis of
a series of investments, especially in infrastructure.
Among the various fields of infrastructure, after
the recent and steady advances made in information
technology and communications, the
energy sector will produce the most innovations.
They will mainly arise from the need to reduce
the environmental impacts of production and
consumption. The world today has 7 billion people
living in it, and over the next 25 years, that
number will increase to 9 billion. These people,
mostly city dwellers, will be accessing the energy
market directly. If the current trend continues,
the Earth’s average temperature will rise by
four degrees Celsius over that period due to the
gases emitted.
The consequences of that would be so dire,
especially for developing economies and the
southern hemisphere, that something must be
done to keep this temperature rise below two degrees
Celsius (which would still be high). Despite
the recent failures of world climate conferences,
the facts will force economic and governmental
agents to act differently.
In terms of objective measures, it would be essential,
among other things, to massively streamline
consumption, bringing about a considerable increase
in the use of renewable energy for production,
greater use of natural gas of different geological
origins from the current one (oil shale),
more decentralized production of energy (wind
power and solar panels) and an entirely new concept
of distribution networks for electricity and
gas, associating them with the intensive electronic
monitoring of facility use (smart-grids).
Today, about 50% of the total energy consumed
is used by residential, commercial and industrial
buildings. Therefore, this segment should be the top
priority (better lighting, more comfort, more external
insulation, etc).
We will still need to create large blocks of
energy for concentrated use (especially for the
industrial processes that now absorb 25% of total
energy output), and in this context, cleaner
forms of energy – from biomass, but mainly from
nuclear plants, which will still be necessary.
The prospects for economic technologies that
capture CO2 emissions are still not competitive,
which is concerning due to the enormous consumption
in China and India, which are urbanizing
and industrializing rapidly and use coal as
their primary source of energy. Despite all the
efforts to save fossil fuels, they will continue to
play a major role.
In the transport segment, accounting for 25%
of total energy consumption, urban mobility issues
should involve increasing restrictions on
car use in urban areas, introducing more electric
cars and electrified mass transit in large cities.
Megaships and greater use of rail networks,
coupled with increased gains in the field of logistics,
will be invaluable.
All this points to steadily increasing energy
prices, requiring the feasibility of using rational
and efficient technologies on the consumption
side (light bulbs, refrigerators, heaters,
air conditioners) and the production side. The
environmental demands impose increasing production
costs – whether in Brazil, where there
are abundant renewable resources, or in other
countries. Spending on research in the field of
solar power and other sustainable forms of energy
will grow.
A new future is coming, and we have to deal with
the changes and opportunities it will bring. Brazil
has important energy resources, but the most important
resource of all will be the knowledge and
technologies developed in the future.
José Luiz
Alquéres
is a civil engineer
and consultant
informa
59

informainforma
60

&
News
People
Check out reports in this section
about the recent achievements of the
Odebrecht Organization’s teams in Brazil
and worldwide, and features on
company members’ daily lives
62
67
70
73
74
76
78
81
82
Corinthians fans will soon get a new stadium, which will
host the opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup
Housing families left homeless by mudslides in Angra
dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro
MIA Mover: a project that symbolizes the conviction
that intermodal transport is the solution
The thoughts and activities of James Eldridge, Maria
José Araque and Monica Evangelista
Fabiano Zillo and the experience of adapting to new
situations on the job and in life
The opening of the Hertha Odebrecht Library, a facility
for Organization members and public events
The Margarida Alves settlement in Ituberá, Bahia,
is living proof that change is achieved through unity
An exhibition in Salvador, Bahia, looks back on the
2,500-year history of money
Augusto Roque and the savvy acquired by facing
challenging experiences around the globe
photo: Bruno Veiga
Children playing ball in the
sports court in the Cidadão
Japuíba apartment complex in
Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro

2014 FIFA WORLD CUP
a home for the
FANS
A
written by Julio Cesar Soares and Karolina Gutiez
101-year dream
is coming true: the
Corinthians soccer
stadium, chosen
to host the World Cup
opening match
62
informa

Illustration shows the finished stadium.
In the lower left-hand corner, a montage
shows former President Lula, a passionate
Corinthians supporter, and the club
president, Andrés Sanchez, in the crowd.
In this story, Sanchez says he wants to sit
in the stands with the other Corinthians fans
Legend has it that, from May to
September 1910, a series of
meetings among five workers
held in the lamp light on the corner
of Cônego Martins and Imigrantes
streets in the São Paulo neighborhood
of Bom Retiro engendered the Corinthians
Paulista Sport Club. On
September 1st of that year, its birth
was registered in the club’s founding
charter – “Brazilian, most Brazilian,”
as their fans (called the fiel or “faithful”)
chant when singing its anthem.
From then on, the soccer club has
racked up 101 years of “a thousand
traditions and glories”: more than 40
titles, including state, interstate and
national tournaments and the FIFA
Clubs World Championship in 2000.
Achievements celebrated by millions
of “crazies,” as their supporters call
themselves, including the Odebrecht
Informa team reporting and some of
the characters in this story. But never
on home turf.
For a century, the Corinthians “nation”
of fans has cherished the dream
of having their own stadium. Its current
headquarters, Parque São Jorge,
hosted major matches until the 60s.
Since then, several leaders of the Corinthians
have developed some audacious
plans for sports arenas, without
success. While the stadium stayed on
the drawing board, the club used Pacaembu
Municipal Stadium, owned by
São Paulo City, as renters – and they
will continue to use it until the end of
the 2014 World Cup.
Architect Aníbal Coutinho Coutinho,
from the Diegues e Cordeiro Arquitetos
firm, came up with a plan to
retrofit Pacaembu, that is, it would
have been completely renovated to
become the “Big Team’s” permanent
home. Odebrecht had similar plans,
with a sophisticated design for Paulo
Machado de Carvalho (the stadium’s
informa
63

official name), but the club did not
get the necessary concession from
the City. “By then, the relationship
between Corinthians, Odebrecht and
the architectural firm had been firmly
established. We started looking for the
best conditions for making this dream
come true,” says Luis Paulo Rosenberg,
who has been the club’s Chief
Marketing Officer for four years and a
fan since birth.
photos: Yan Vanndaru
The stands and the site of the soccer pitch: scenes of the birth of a stadium.
Below, Aníbal Coutinho and a projection of the finished project: the architect
visited major stadiums in the United States and Europe
Part of the club’s history
They found the best conditions in
Itaquera, in the East Zone of São Paulo,
where they decided to build a new
stadium. The neighborhood is part of
the team’s history: a former Corinthians
president, Vicente Matheus, got
the concession for the area in 1979
during the administration of then–
Mayor Olavo Setúbal. Until recently,
it housed Corinthians’ youth league
training camp, and has been the focus
of studies for previous projects. “We
tried to reach an agreement with the
City Government to unite these two
hubs of Pacaembu, but we realized
that Itaquera was the best option,”
says Luis Paulo Rosenberg.
The new stadium will be built in a
198,000-m 2 area. Rectangular, it will
have a 7,000-tonne roof whose appearance
will belie its weight. “The
arena will convey a sense of lightness,
as if it were hovering in the air. It will
have an aura of monumentality,” says
Rosenberg. The structure is open on
the north and south ends; on the west
end there will be a building housing
private boxes, parking facilities and
service areas, among other facilities.
Located on the east side, one of the
stands will be as high as the building
on the west side. The other stands behind
the goals will be lower. “There are
over 48,000 seats, all told, including
the stands, boxes and VIP areas,” says
Frederico Barbosa, the Operations
Manager for the project.
Part of the workforce, which will
include 2,000 members at the peak of
the project, will be local hires. “We have
already started a version of the Acreditar
[professional education] program
to train 300 people, including construction
assistants, carpenters, bricklayers
and steelfixers,” says Frederico.
2014 World Cup
During negotiations for the project,
the stadium was mooted as a possible
venue for the opening match of the
2014 FIFA World Cup. FIFA confirmed
it in October 2011, which will require
some temporary installations, such
as increasing the number of seats to
65,000, adapting the press room to receive
5,000 media professionals, and
modifying the stadium’s security, as
it will be visited by more than 30 delegations
of heads of state during the
event. The project will be completed by
December 2013.
According to a study conducted
by the Accenture consulting firm, the
economic impact of holding the opening
match of the 2014 World Cup in
São Paulo will be BRL 30 billion over
10 years, especially in the East Zone,
the most populous part of the city,
which is lacking in infrastructure and
investments. “The arena will be one of
inducers of a process that will improve
people’s quality of life in the region because
it will stimulate investments in
mobility projects, bring in educational
institutions and businesses, and consequently
create job opportunities,”
argues Benedicto Junior, CEO of Odebrecht
Infraestrutura. “This trend can
already be seen in the rising property
values in the East Zone,” adds Benedicto,
a “passionate supporter” of the
Corinthians club.
According to Project Director Antonio
Roberto Gavioli, the stadium
will help bolster the Odebrecht Organization’s
image. “The exposure is
enormous. We have over 30 million
clients,” he jokes, referring to the
number of Corinthians fans in Brazil.
“Furthermore, we are going to
build the stadium hosting the opening
64
informa

match of the 2014 World Cup.” Gavioli
stresses the team’s pride in taking
part in a project that is so important to
the city, the state and the country. “It’s
an opportunity for Odebrecht to reach
segments of society that had once
known little about us.”
The contract was signed on September
3, during the celebrations of
the club’s 101st anniversary. A party
attended by the former President of
Brazil and current President of the
Republic of Corinthians, Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva, marked the event, where
30,000 fans also gathered at the entrance
of the jobsite – attendance worthy
of a classic soccer tournament.
Everyone, from the fans to the club
president, is eagerly awaiting the new
stadium. “I want my home, I want
this dream to come true,” says Sidnei
Beires, 28. A resident of the Cangaiba
district, about 10 km from the future
arena, Sidnei is one of the organizers of
the monthly gatherings at the entrance
to the jobsite: a pot-luck barbecue
where admission is free and everyone
brings their own food.
“The idea came up during a meeting
near Pacaembu that we held two years
ago,” says Silvio Oliveira, another organizer
of the event. “Anyone can come
if they’re a Corinthians fan,” he says.
He adds: “We’re not here to just keep
an eye on the progress of the work, but
to celebrate, to witness and be part
of this history.” Both Sidnei and Silvio
can already see themselves cheering
for Corinthians in the future stadium.
So can Andrés Sanchez Navarro, the
club’s President and a member since
1969. “I will be right there with the
fans, in the stands,” he predicts. And
so can Benedicto: “I will definitely be at
the stadium for the team’s first game
there, and like thousands of other ‘crazies,’
I will be proud to see the wonderful
house built in Itaquera.”
Watershed
Going to any Brazilian stadium is,
above all, a proof of love for a club from its
fans. Run-down infrastructure, difficult
access and few leisure options before and
after the games usually keep some of the
supporters away. For Andrés, the Corinthians
stadium is a watershed in Brazilian
sport. “It will be an impressive thing
for soccer in this country, better than the
European standard,” says the President.
The ideal for this project is to make going
to the stadium a pleasant experience,
win or lose. “We want to go beyond being
a ‘place to see a game’ by providing comfort
for the fans, fast and easy access to
the stands and facilities of the stadium,
and offering other services. We want to
give the fans a full experience,” explains
Aníbal Coutinho.
informa
65

Standing, from left, Francisco das Chagas “Mestre Pará” Lopes, Ricardo Corregio,
Frederico Barbosa, Antonio Gavioli and Domingos Sávio de Araújo; kneeling,
Joel Santos, Jason Oliveira, Almir Fontenele de Araújo, Felipe Pacífico Ferreira
and Gilson Guardia: members of the Odebrecht team working on the project
photos: Yan Vanndaru
Andrés Sanchez:
“I will be right there with
the fans, in the stands”
High-definition screens and TVs
will be installed throughout the stadium,
in the snack bars, in the restrooms
(all internal areas will be
air-conditioned) and other facilities
to ensure that, even when they leave
their seats, fans will still be able to
watch the game. “Unlike a game of
basketball or baseball, which are long,
soccer matches are short. Therefore,
fans don’t like to like to leave their
seats to make sure they won’t miss an
important play. Thanks to the wireless
system covering the entire stadium,
you’ll be able to order snacks from
your seat, pay by credit card and get
them right where you are, without getting
up,” says Aníbal. For 20 years, the
architect has visited major stadiums in
the United States and Europe to study
their operations, see how things work
on game days and even check out the
type of grass they use.
This structure and those facilities
will cost the club BRL 820 million. Of
this amount, BRL 400 million will be
financed by BNDES, Brazil’s national
socioeconomic development bank,
which, by decision of the Federal
Government, is providing loans up to
that amount for each city that will
host World Cup matches, disbursed
to a Special Purpose Company (SPE)
formed to carry out the project. The
SPE will use the BNDES loan to cover
part of the investment needed to build
the stadium, and that amount will be
fully repaid to the bank from future
revenues generated by the stadium’s
operations.
The SPE will also be the major
shareholder of a Real Estate Investment
Fund (FII), the owner of the
stadium, which also has the right
to receive Development Incentive
Certificates (CIDs), based on an incentive
mechanism created in 2004
by São Paulo City to encourage investment
in the East Zone. The certificates
are equivalent to 60% of the
total investment.
Investors who hold these certificates
can use them as payment for service
tax and/or property tax in São Paulo.
In the case of the Corinthians stadium,
the value of CIDs was limited to BRL
420 million, regardless of the final cost
of the construction project. Certificates
will be valid for 10 years. “Other projects
will be financed through CIDs and,
along with the stadium, will bring development
to the East Zone,” says the
Mayor of São Paulo, Gilberto Kassab,
after signing the law granting tax incentives
for the project at a ceremony held
at the jobsite in July. The projected income
from the stadium, including revenue
associated with sponsorship, can
be used to defray part of the investment
if other sources are not enough.
Odebrecht has given the necessary
guarantees to make the deal possible:
if the project runs out of funds during
construction, the company will
purchase enough shares in the FII to
cover the amount required. The club is
also a shareholder of the fund.
The creation of an FII is common
practice in the housing market, but
unprecedented when it comes to financing
sports arenas. “We came
up with this solution because banks
rarely make direct loans to soccer
clubs in Brazil,” explains Felipe Jens,
CEO of Odebrecht Investimentos e
Participações.
“In addition to building major engineering
and construction projects,
Odebrecht has developed financial
engineering solutions for 67 years.
Clients for major infrastructure projects
don’t always have all the necessary
funds available at the time the
contract is signed. We come in with
the engineering solution in one hand
and the financial engineering in the
other. They go together,” says Felipe,
who adds: “We believe that the soccer
market is going to grow in Brazil.
Word is beginning to circulate in the
financial market about the possibility
of IPOs for soccer clubs, and that will
involve massive amounts of money,
since investors are also huge fans.”
Call it a dream. In the case of the
Corinthians, it is the dream of a nation
of more than 30 million people. And it
is on its way to coming true.
66
informa

HOUSING
Children riding bicycles
at the Cidadão Japuíba
Complex: families feel they
are getting a fresh start
It’s great to be here
Angra dos Reis residents left homeless by mudslides
in 2009 are moving into their new homes
written by Edilson Lima photos by Bruno Veiga
“C
ome on in, but don’t mind
the mess, because we’re
still setting up house!”
That was how Juraci Fátima de
Souza, 53, welcomed our news
team to her new apartment in the
Cidadão Japuíba building in Angra
dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro. Juraci,
her husband, Alcenyr Oliveira
Lage, 69, and her father, Glicério
de Souza, 75, had moved into their
new home on September 9, a few
days before our visit. “We got the
keys on 15 August,” she says with
a joyful smile.
Juraci’s family was one of many
left homeless by the rains and
mudslides of December 31, 2009,
in Angra dos Reis. She used to live
in the Morro do Perez slum, near
the city center. Her house did not
collapse, but it was located in a
high-risk area. “It took a lot of hard
work to build that house, but we
had to leave it behind. Our lives are
much more important. Thank God,
no human lives [in our family] were
lost,” she says. Today, in that new
setting, she feels they are getting
a fresh start: “I couldn’t wait to get
informa
67

my own apartment. Now we can
get on with our lives.”
For the past five years, health
problems have forced Glicério
to use a wheelchair. Speaking of
their new housing, he emphatically
states: “Everything here is terrific.
I love everything about it, especially
going out for a ‘stroll.’” Alcenyr
adds: “Back in the slum, even doing
the month’s grocery shopping
was hard, because we had to climb
so many stairs. Here the area is
flat, well organized, and has a different
kind of structure.”
Rosineide Maria da Silva, 28,
tells a similar story. Born in the
northeast Brazilian state of Recife,
she arrived in Angra dos Reis five
years ago. She used to live in the
Morro da Cruz slum with her husband,
Antônio Gomes de Oliveira,
and three sons. On the day of the
mudslides they were all asleep in
bed when her eldest son (now 6)
went to his parents’ bedroom to
warn them that the kitchen was
“falling.” Rosineide recalls, “I ran
out and saw that the kitchen was
full of mud. The gas stove and
refrigerator were ruined. It was
hopeless.”
Rosineide’s house was condemned,
and since then she and her
family have lived in a unit provided
by the Recomeçar (New Start) program,
also known as “social rentals.”
This benefit was provided by the
City of Angra to help families who
had lost their homes to the mudslides.
The financial aid provided is
one monthly minimum wage (BRL
545, roughly USD 300) per unit for up
to 180 days. On September 17, 2011,
Rosineide moved into her new home
on the fourth floor of a building in the
same complex as Juraci. “Look, this
here is terrific, see? I still can’t believe
this is my apartment. I’m living
a dream,” she says, turning her eyes
to her two young children, Victoria,
18 months, and Victor, 3.
Efficient construction
method
According to the Angra dos
Reis Department of Urban Development,
the mudslides killed 53
Juraci, her husband, Alcenyr, and her father, Glicério: “I couldn’t wait to get my
own apartment”
people. One thousand people were
left homeless and 4,500 others
were displaced from their homes
because they were located in hazardous
areas. So providing housing
for people urgently in need of assistance
was an emergency measure
for the public authorities. The
first step was to put them up in socalled
“social rentals.” The second
was to build 800 housing units as
soon as possible. Achieving that
goal required the unified action
of the City of Angra dos Reis, the
Rio de Janeiro State Department
of Public Works (Seobras) and the
Ministry of National Integration, in
partnership with the private sector.
Angra dos Reis is a popular
resort city with 365 islands on its
coastline, of which the largest and
most famous is Ilha Grande (Big
Island). Tourists from Brazil and
around the world come to visit the
city just to see them. However, the
terrain on the mainland consists
primarily of steep hills. “Our geography
does not give us enough
areas suitable for housing,” says
Cassio Veloso de Abreu, the city’s
Secretary of Urban Development.
“About 70% of dwellings are irregular.
The mudslides of 2009 further
increased our responsibility. These
800 housing units are not enough;
they are just the beginning of an
extensive effort.”
To build 800 housing units, the
Seobras hired Consórcio Angra Melhor,
a joint venture of Odebrecht
Infraestrutura and Bairro Novo,
the Odebrecht Realizações Imobiliárias
(OR) area focused on the
low-income housing sector. “This
emergency situation led members
of the two companies to engage in
dialogue and present a proposal that
68
informa

Buildings constructed with a method that takes less time while maintaining quality: Bairro Novo developed this solution
to meet the needs of Angra dos Reis
could soon be put into action,” says
Flávio Donda, the project’s Operations
Manager.
Bairro Novo uses aluminum
molds, a method that reduces construction
time, optimizes largescale
production and ensures a
good-quality end result. The entire
process goes like this: first,
the foundations are laid, then the
framework is built with a steel grid
containing water pipes and tubes for
electrical wiring and phone lines.
The aluminum molds are mounted
according to the blueprint for the
project. Then come the concrete
walls and roof slab. Sixteen hours
later, the molds are removed. This
procedure is repeated on each floor.
The final touches include plastering
the walls, painting and doing any
necessary finishing.
“Besides being practical, these
molds are reusable and recyclable,
so we don’t need to use wood, unlike
conventional projects. This demonstrates
the sustainable nature of
the entire process,” says Marcella
Negreiros Guimarães, the joint venture’s
Engineering and Commercial
Manager.
The project required mobilizing
experienced people from other
parts of Brazil to train local members.
“The city didn’t have a workforce
dedicated to the construction
industry. We had to train local
members as the work progressed.
It was an intense experience of
education through work,” observes
Administrative-Financial Manager
Manoel Cavalcante de Almeida
Filho.
Engineer Raul Cerqueira Rezende
from the Rio de Janeiro State public
works company (EMOP), is responsible
for supervising the construction
works. He says: “The joint venture
did an excellent job. The extremely
tight schedule was a major challenge.”
The project included building
three apartment complexes that
have already been completed:
Cidadão Areal, which opened in
February 18, 2011, with seven
buildings and 140 apartments;
Cidadão Japuíba, which opened
on August 15, with 21 buildings
and 420 apartments, and Cidadão
Gloria, which will be opening soon,
with 12 apartment buildings and
240 units. Each building has five
floors with four units per floor.
The apartments each have a total
area of 45.5 m2, with a living
room, kitchen, bathroom and two
bedrooms.
“The challenge we faced was
enormous, but our teams were
able to satisfy the client by harnessing
the transversality of two
of the Organization’s companies,”
says André Viana Portela, Project
Director for Bairro Novo in the
states of Rio de Janeiro and Bahia.
“Odebrecht Infraestrutura did outstanding
work, with its capability
to mobilize teams and develop the
projects, and Bairro Novo came in
with an engineering solution that
could produce housing units within
the schedule and budget the client
required,” he says.
informa
69

TRANSPORTATION
Everything’s connected
MIA Mover links the airport to Miami Central Station,
which is connected to the metro, train, bus and taxi systems
and a centralized car-rental service
written by Thaís Reiss
photos by Steven Brooke
Miami’s non-stop growth
since the 1980s has led
the Miami-Dade Aviation
Department (MDAD) to partner with
the Florida Department of Transportation
(FDOT) to implement a
strategy for expanding and improving
access to Miami International
Airport. In this context, the MIA
Mover, Miami’s Automated People
Mover (APM), has been playing an
important role since it began operations
in early September.
The MIA Mover is 2 kilometers
long, with eight rubber-tired vehicles
running in both directions, capable
of carrying up to 3,000 passengers
per hour each way free
of charge, at an average speed
of 64 km per hour. The system
connects the airport terminal to
Miami Central Station, which, in
turn, is linked to the metro, train
and bus systems, as well as taxis
and a centralized car-rental service.
“Intermodality is key to providing
an efficient transport system,
especially because of traffic congestion
and very limited space
for making conventional road improvements,”
says Sanjeev Shah,
CEO of the Lea+Elliott consulting
70
informa

firm. “It is also a positive factor
in the passengers’ experience,
because it allows them to transfer
from one mode of transport to
another based on individual preferences.”
Fabio Martins, a Brazilian tourist
on his third visit to Miami, agrees.
“I was worried about being late because
of my previous experiences.
In addition to returning the rental
car, I still had to catch the bus to
the airport. But the train arrived in
less than two minutes. I was pleasantly
surprised.” The Portuguese
couple Natacha and Salvador Villas
Boas are accustomed to this
type of transportation at European
airports, and sum it up like this:
“It’s fast, convenient and well signposted.”
Pedro Hernandez, from the
Development and Management
Division of MDAD, observes: “The
MIA Mover will help consolidate
Miami as a business hub.” He believes
that intermodality will create
major opportunities for local
economic development. On this
point, Luiz Simon, the Odebrecht
Project Director responsible for
the works, adds that construction
of the MIA Mover, which began
in September 2008, created
more than one thousand direct
job opportunities, including about
Photo: Thaís Reiss
MIA Mover,
with Natacha
and Salvador:
“It’s fast,
practical
and well
signposted”
informa
71

MIA Mover station:
award for workplace
safety performance
50 subcontractors, and generated
more than USD 35 million in contracts
for local small businesses.
Safety award
Completed on schedule and
within the proposed budget, the
MIA Mover also stands out for
winning the VPP Star Status
workplace safety award from
OSHA, the US agency that certifies
occupational safety. It was
the first transportation project
in Florida and the second within
OSHA Region IV, which covers
eight US states, to receive the
award. Carlos Bonzon, Vice President
of Bermello Ajamil & Partners,
Inc., the client’s consulting
firm for civil works, notes: “The
level of safety during construction
was exceptional.”
And if its workplace safety
program deserved recognition,
the project’s environmental protection
programs are no slouch
either. The MIA Mover station,
located at the airport, will be
the first mass transport project
in Miami-Dade County to receive
LEED Gold certification from the
US Green Building Council. Over
80% of the waste generated during
construction was recycled,
and the station is designed to reduce
water consumption by 30%
and energy costs by 15%. Furthermore,
when the MIA Mover
began operations, it eliminated
1,400 trips by bus and minibus
from the airport to Miami Central
Station, which represents a 30%
reduction in road traffic within
the airport and a significant reduction
in carbon emissions as a
result.
The team responsible for the
project faced a major challenge
when it came to the work schedule.
Due to delays related to the
consequences of the terrorist attacks
of September 11, 2001, the
initial schedule had to be reduced
by eighteen months. “The deadline
for the project [three years]
was very tight. However, through
open communication and a strong
sense of teamwork, we were able
to complete it on time and within
budget,” says Darin Friedman,
Vice President for the Transportation
Systems Division of Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries America,
Inc., the subcontractor responsible
for the MIA Mover’s operating
system.
Luiz Simon points out that
these results were only possible
because of Odebrecht’s excellent
relationship with the client and
subcontractors. “Despite the numerous
difficulties encountered
during construction, the partnership
formed with the client and
the subcontractors was essential
to completing the work on time
and within budget.”
According to Gino Antoniello,
Vice President for the Transportation
Equipment and Systems
Division of Sumitomo Corporation
of America, Mitsubishi’s partner
company, the MIA Mover is the
result of a strategic vision that
places Miami-Dade County at the
forefront of intermodal transportation,
“as a community with futuristic
vision that appreciates the
value of using new technologies
to modernize.”
72
informa

FOLKS
A taste for the unusual
James and the new desire to
experience the world
J
ames Eldridge was born in the US state of Tennessee,
in Palmer, a coal-mining town. He has a degree
in Construction Management and joined Odebrecht in Miami
six years ago. Married with four children and three
grandchildren, he is a homebody. He likes to restore historic
houses and go antiquing with his wife, Susan Gail.
He is now working in New Orleans, but he spent four
months in Libya in 2010 and 2011 working on projects
at Tripoli International Airport. Since he had never lived
or worked outside his home country before, his time in
Tripoli was especially challenging. After returning to the
US, he wrote My Libya Experience, in which he describes
how he applied the teachings of Odebrecht Entrepreneurial
Technology (TEO) in a foreign land. “I’d like to keep on
expanding my view of the world and get to know more cultures,”
he says.
Photo: Lia Lubambo
Photo: foto: Holanda Andrés Cavalcanti Manner
A new lifestyle
María José lives in a remote region,
but she doesn’t feel alone
C
ivil engineer María José Araque is the officer responsible
for Costs on the Commercial Management
team for the Third Orinoco Bridge Project, based in the village
of Caicara, Venezuela. She joined Odebrecht in 2005
to work on the construction of the Second Orinoco Bridge,
and when that project ended, she accepted an invitation to
move to Caicara. She left her parent’s home and her friends
behind and set off on her own to a remote community that
has very few amenities. “Today I’m a more sensitive person,
and at the same time, I’m stronger and more secure,” she
says. According to María José, being so far from home is not
a problem. Her Odebrecht co-workers are her family now,
and she has plenty of time to enjoy the gorgeous natural surroundings.
“Aside from that, it’s all about work and helping
my country develop. That’s highly rewarding,” she says.
Photo: foto: Dario Holanda de Freitas Cavalcanti
The chemistry of differences
Monica collects cultural curiosities
A
s Braskem’s Market Development Manager for the Polypropylene area,
Monica Evangelista visits clients throughout Brazil. In her work, she takes
into account cultural differences like these: meetings with companies in rural
São Paulo begin with conversations about the family and the weather before they
move on to the agenda, and can go on all day; others, in the South, get straight
to the point and rarely last over half an hour. “I like what I do. There’s no routine
in my life and I can get to know different places and people,” she says. A 19-year
member of Braskem, Monica has a BS in Industrial Chemistry and a Masters in
Polymers and has participated in the construction of the Braskem Technology
and Innovation Center at Triunfo, Rio Grande do Sul. In September, she had just
returned from China – a trip that was part of the MBA course that ends in 2011.
Although she is a seasoned traveler, she was still impressed: “There is nothing
like it! We always have something new to discover,” she says.
informa
73

PROFILE: Fabiano Zillo
Right at
ease in his time
and place
written by Eliana Simonetti photos by Ricardd Teles
Asmile lights up Fabiano kilometers by land and air from
José Zillo’s countenance Paulista, São Paulo, where he lives
when he arrives at the with his family. Descended from
workplace. His eyes survey the
scene around him with satisfaction.
He is CEO of ETH Bioenergy’s
Araguaia Hub, which is made up of
two units in the Brazilian state of
Goiás: Água Emendada and Morro
Vermelho, the hub’s administrative
base. Mineiros County, where
Italian immigrants who arrived in
Brazil in the late 19th century to
invest in agribusiness, he majored
in Agronomy and has an MS in Soil
and Plant Nutrition, with emphasis
on Sugarcane, from the University
of São Paulo’s Luiz Queiroz School
of Agriculture (Usalq-USP) in Piracicaba.
Morro Vermelho is located, is in one
Zillo got married and
of the highest areas of Brazil, the
Caiapós Mountains, which contain
the sources of about 5,000 waterways,
including the Araguaia River,
and savannah preserves like Ema
Bird National Park.
Zillo feels right at home in
Morro Vermelho, although, to get
there, he has to travel over 1,250
had three daughters, and spent
11 years working in various areas
of the family business, eventually
becoming executive director of its
three sugar and ethanol units. Although
he received invitations to
join other companies, he didn’t
want to make any changes in his
life.
“I’ve discovered that I have
a taste for new things and
an adaptability that I’d never
known before. I’ve ‘reset’ my
life and world view”
The CEO of
ETH’s Araguaia
Hub, Zillo is
experiencing
a particularly
motivating time
in his career
Not, that is, until 2007, the year that
marked a turning point in his world
when he was 43. The family-owned
group, Zilor Energia e Alimentos, embarked
on a process of professionalization
and corporate governance,
and he decided to step down from the
board and begin working as an independent
consultant. He also went
through a divorce and a serious health
problem. Today, he looks back on all
that as just another phase in the life of
someone who is accustomed to surmounting
challenges. “As a teenager,
I was picked on for being overweight. I
took care of my body, became an athlete,
and as a volleyball player, I played
on champion teams,” he says.
In May 2009, Zillo joined the Agricultural
Board of ETH. A month later,
he was invited to participate in the
merger with Brenco and led the valuation
process (the qualitative process
of evaluating companies). Starting
in September, he headed the project
to standardize agribusiness processes,
implemented in April 2010.
That same month, he became CEO of
Brenco, leading the consolidation of
teams, processes and all sugarcane
production projects.
As CEO of the Araguaia Hub,
he interacts directly and intensely
with members, partners, suppli-
informa
74 74

ers, unions and the community.
He also renegotiates contracts and
meets with local landowners – who
traditionally grow other crops and
raise livestock – to advise them to
use part of their land to plant sugarcane
to ensure greater diversification
and therefore more stable
earnings. He has spearheaded
the creation of a professional education
center for technicians in
Mineiros through a partnership
between ETH and SENAI (the National
Industrial Education Service).
“We want to improve people’s
living and working conditions,” he
says. “Agriculture and agribusiness,
which are now mechanized,
are important creators of job opportunities
and sources of income
for skilled professionals. The ETH
Araguaia Hub alone has over 3,000
members, in addition to the indirect
employment its operations
generate.”
When asked
why he decided
to join ETH,
Zillo doesn’t
think twice: it
was primarily
because he
identifies with
the principles
and values of the Odebrecht Entrepreneurial
Technology (TEO). It also presented
an opportunity to take part in a
mega-operation that is contributing to
Brazil’s development. “The economy
of Mineiros has grown by 30% in the
past five years,” he says. It also gave
him a chance to demonstrate his own
competence. “At ETH, everything
happens in fast-forward, and
now that I’m outside the family
niche I’ve discovered that I
have a taste for new things
and an adaptability that I’d
never known before. I’ve
‘reset’ my life and my world
view,” he concludes.
informa
75

ARTS & CULTURE
Archive of principles
The Hertha Odebrecht Library opens at the Organization’s
headquarters in Salvador, Bahia
written by Rodrigo Vilar
photos by Beg Figueiredo
Aceremony held on August
18 officially opened the
Hertha Odebrecht Library
at the Organization’s headquarters
in Salvador, Bahia. During the
event, Hebe Meyer, Senior Advisor
to the Chairman of the Board of
Trustees of the Odebrecht Foundation,
presented this new cultural
facility to Members of the Board
of Odebrecht S.A., and Norberto,
Emílio and Marcelo Odebrecht,
who have succeeded each other at
the helm of the Organization.
The library is part of the Odebrecht
Culture Center, on the ground
floor of the Organization’s headquarters
building in Salvador. In addition
to containing the private literary
collection donated by Norberto
Odebrecht and members of the
Organization as well as Odebrecht
publications, it is also a venue for
community and cultural events. Since
it opened in mid-October, it has
hosted 11 events, including lectures
by educators like Professor Mabel
Velloso and historian Ubiratan
Castro, screenings of films like The
Pedagogy of Presence, directed by
informa

Jorge Alfredo, and activities for children,
including an adapted reading
of the life of abolitionist poet Castro
Alves by actor Jackson Costa to celebrate
Children’s Day. There was a
full house every time.
Another feature of the library
is a space for temporary thematic
exhibitions. The first theme chosen
was the life of Hertha Odebrecht
and the places where
she lived. One of the panels features
a quote by Norberto Odebrecht
on his family values: “At
home, under the leadership of
my mother, Hertha Odebrecht,
we lived in a family environment
that was educational, religious
and trusting. Early on, through
discipline and organization, my
sisters and I were groomed for
life and work. Those teachings
were always aimed at the pursuit
of truth, and what was right and
best for everyone.”
The library’s name is a tribute
to Norberto Odebrecht’s mother.
Hertha Odebrecht played an important
role in the upbringing of
the Organization’s founder. She
devoted herself to raising her
children on the basis of principles
and values that contributed decisively
to the establishment of what
would later form the basis of the
Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology
(TEO).
Marcelo, Norberto and Emílio with a
photo of Hertha Odebrecht: generations
marked and united by principles and
values cultivated throughout their upbringing.
Smaller photo, young students
from Salvador leafing through a book in
the library: open to the community
informa
77

sustainable development
Everyone plays
a key role
written by Gabriela Vasconcellos
photos by Márcio Lima
At the Margarida Alves settlement in Ituberá,
in the Southern Bahia Lowlands, small farm
families are joining forces and learning skills
to develop their community
The daisy is a curious flower.
If you look at it up close you
will find that it actually consists
of two types of flowers. It is no
accident that the white petals surround
the yellow center. With distinct
functions, each segment is part of a
whole that performs different tasks
essential to its survival. The community
that bears its name is just the
same. The Margarida (Daisy) Alves
settlement, located in Ituberá County
78
informa

Antonio Nascimento with
his wife and youngest
son: “We now have
technical support and our
productivity has grown”
(280 km from the state capital, Salvador),
arose from the Landless Workers
Movement’s occupation of the area in
1998. Since then, the families have
organized, parceled out the land and
joined forces to develop their community.
Antonio Nascimento Santos, 64,
arrived in the region in 1996, along
with his wife and children, in search
of work. “I had nowhere to plant my
crops, but we managed that here.
Back then, my greatest desire was to
have a piece of land,” he recalls. The
farmer found a growth opportunity
when the Hearts-of-Palm Producers
Cooperative of the Southern Bahia
Lowlands (Coopalm) arrived in
the settlement in 2009. “In all these
years, the most important thing that
happened was the arrival of Coopalm.
We are partners. We get technical
support and have increased our
productivity,” he says.
Antonio’s expectations grow every
time he plants a peach palm. Within
two years, he will harvest about 750
stalks on a monthly basis, which will
net him BRL 1,100 per month from
that crop alone. “I want to produce
even more, and expand my property,”
says the farmer, who is ready to go to
work in the fields by 5 a.m. “All this
ensures that we bring in some cash
at the end of the month. That way
I can take care of my family and the
informa
79

Ananias de Sena: “Our community has developed”
little house where I live. Now we’re
planning to buy a car,” he says.
Antonio does not work alone.
His youngest son, Antonio Nascimento
Santos Filho, the only one
of his three children who still live
in the settlement, not only shares
his name but his love of the land.
“Farming is my life. It’s my business,”
says Antonio Filho, 24. He
is a student at the Igrapiúna Rural
Family House (CFR-I) teaching unit,
which, like Coopalm , is part of the
Program for the Integrated and Sustainable
Development of the Mosaic
of Environmental Protection Areas
in the Southern Bahia Lowlands
(PDIS), an organization supported by
the Odebrecht Foundation.
Antonio Filho is about to graduate
from the three-year course at CFR-I.
During his studies, he has had access
to training in areas such as farm
management, soils, perennial crops
and processing of plant and animal
products, as well as the basics of
cooperativism, environmental education
and youth leadership. The new
techniques he has learned, together
with the assistance of Coopalm, have
helped boost the productivity of his
family farm.
“You can have a very good life in
the countryside and grow and develop
without needing to migrate to big
cities in search of a dream that does
not exist,” says the new rural entrepreneur,
who joined Coopalm in 2011.
“In the future, I’ll definitely be involved
with farming,” he says. His father is
sure of that as well: “I am very happy
to see my son working the land. In the
countryside, we can have it all.”
Over 10,000 stalks
harvested in 2011
Currently, 18 of the 25 families living
in Margarida Alves are cooperative
members. In 2011 alone, they harvested
more than 10,000 palm stalks,
which has generated an average income
of over BRL 750 for the farmers.
“We believe in the cooperative
because we can see that it is a successful
program,” says Antonio Filho.
Besides Coopalm and CFR-I, other
institutions linked to the PDIS are
also interacting with the settlement.
The Land Conservation Organization
(OCT), for example, has helped the
community get environmental regulation
from the state government. The
Guardian Association for the Pratigi
Environmental Protection Area (AGIR)
facilitates official documentation and
accounting, and the Continental Waters
Aquaculture Cooperative (Coopecon)
has initiated contact with the
community to implement fish farming
in the region, creating another
opportunity for work and income.
For the residents of the settlement,
this is just the beginning. “We can
already feel the difference. Our community
has developed, we have more
peace of mind and guidance,” says
Ananias de Sena, 73, one of the oldest
residents of Margarida Alves, who is
also a Coopalm member. “Our income
has done nothing but grow.”
Ananias’s determination can be
seen in every family that is inspired
by the strength and courage of the
woman from whom the community
got its name. Margarida Maria Alves,
who died in 1983, was a fighter, a pioneer
in defending the rights of rural
workers in Brazil. “She wasn’t from
around here, but we know all about
her struggle,” says Ananias. According
to the stories he tells, Margarida
was nothing like a fragile, delicate
flower. Her bravery and dedication to
the group she defended were more
like the yellow center that holds the
white petals together.
80
informa

HISTORY
The currency of time
An exhibition in Salvador, Bahia,
recounts the 2,500-year history of money
written by Emanuela Sombra
A
coin minted 2,500 years
ago in Ancient Greece.
Another, in Alexander the
Great’s Macedonia. And some from
the time the Treaty of Tordesillas,
Ancient Rome, colonial Brazil,
Cleopatra’s Egypt, Henry VIII’s
England, and more. Rarities that
can be seen at the exhibition titled
“Money, Power & Gods –
2,500 years of Political
History in Coins,”
hosted by Noenio
Spinola a journalist
and writer from
the Brazilian state
of Bahia.
Sponsored by Odebrecht
Infraestrutura, the exhibition
has been on display
since September at the
Bahia Commercial Association
(ACB) in the city of
Salvador. “Bahia had the first
Mint in Brazil. It is symbolic to
hold an exhibition like this, with a
strong educational component, in
Salvador,” says the journalist, who
provided the 460 items
(about half his coin collection)
that will be
on public display
until November 30.
A former foreign
correspondent
in countries like Russia,
the UK and the United
States, Spinola became a collector
Odebrecht Archives
because of his
father and inherited
a small
portion of the
notes and coins
from him. “But because
I lived abroad for
many years, I always visited antique
shops, picking up a coin here and
there. I started doing that at a time
when very few people were interested
in the subject,” says the collector.
Marcos Meirelles Fonseca, President
of the ACB, observes: “This is
one of the most important exhibitions
that Bahia has ever seen. It
makes us rethink the history of the
emergence of entrepreneurship in
this state and its development over
the centuries.” Using technology
and multimedia effects, “Money,
Power & Gods” sheds light on the
rise and fall of ancient and modern
civilizations through the relationship
between people and money.
The exhibit also pays tribute to
Bahia, recalling the demands of
the first settlers and administrators
of the province to modernize
ports, adjust the exchange rate
and make colonial exports more
competitive. “For the Odebrecht
Organization, sponsoring initiatives
like this means preserving
our country’s historic and intangible
heritage,” says André Vital,
CEO of Odebrecht Infraestrutura.
informa
81

SAVVY
The solid
foundations
of a calling
Statement by Augusto Roque given to Valber Carvalho
Photos by: Geraldo Pestalozzi
He joined the Organization in
1985, eight years after graduating
from college. Today,
after helping build eight dams and
hydropower plants in Brazil and
other countries, and spending 25
years on construction sites, Augusto
Roque, Engineering Director of Odebrecht
Energia, is still on the lookout
for fresh challenges. “I was born to
be an engineer,” he says.
He was just 11 years old when he
first felt his calling for building dams.
He accompanied his father, a professor
of Ballistics at the War College,
on a visit to the fifty-year-old Paulo
Afonso hydroelectric plants in northern
Bahia. “That was just awesome.”
Augusto Roque has always believed
that taking on major challenges
is the most effective way to
achieve professional and personal
growth. After just three months at
Odebrecht, he did not hesitate when
he received his first “trial by fire”:
becoming production manager for
the Flores Dam construction project
in an isolated part of southern Maranhão,
in northern Brazil. He only
insisted on one thing: he wanted
to take his wife and baby son along
with him.
After two years in Maranhão, Augusto
Roque worked in Argentina,
directed the Xingó hydroelectric
project on the state line of Sergipe
and Alagoas in Brazil, and was project
director for Odebrecht’s first
contract in Mexico, the Los Huites
hydroelectric plant. He went on to
become the company’s CEO for that
country.
In late 1996 he was invited to
work on the island of Borneo in Malaysia,
where one day he received
an intriguing message: the local
indigenous chief, the commander of
10,000 aboriginal people, wanted to
meet with him, alone.
Augusto Roque is the third Organization
member to give his
personal statement for the Savvy
– People who have Learned from
Work and Life Project. You can
watch the full video interview on
Odebrecht Informa’s website (www.
odebrechtonline.com.br) Here are
some excerpts:
A budding dam builder
My father was a career Navy man.
I was 11 or 12 when I traveled with
him to see the Paulo Afonso Complex
in the 60s. We flew there on an
Augusto Roque
has played a
leading role in a
challenging and
emblematic story
that includes
experiences in
Brazil, Argentina,
Mexico and
Malaysia
82
informa

informa
83

fire in the open air. They get someone
to roast the meat for them and
it’s an enjoyable lunch for them. They
don’t want to go to a cafeteria to eat
rice and beans with potatoes and so
on. So you have to respect that.
Roque: “I was born to
be an engineer”
Air Force plane, and that was when I
saw my first hydros, Paulo Afonso 1
and Paulo Afonso 2, and went down
into the caverns. That impressed me
too. It was unforgettable.
Just one thing
On that project I only insisted on
one thing: that my family go there
with me. The team at the time was
very surprised and said, “Damn,
Roque, you’re going to take your
wife there?” “That’s right. My wife
is from Uruguay. We’ve only been
married four years, and she’s going
to live with me on the jobsite.” “No
way!” “Don’t worry, I’ll find a way.”
My wife was the only woman at the
jobsite, and there were 3,000 men
there. We lived in a brick house that
wasn’t plastered over on the outside.
It was all improvised. Our first child
was just over a year old.
Cultural differences
In Malaysia, there is a fruit that, if
someone comes near you with it, you
have to leave the room. To give you an
idea, they have signs at the entrance
of the international hotels saying: “Do
not enter with durian fruit.” It smells
like ammonia mixed with jackfruit. If
someone comes near you with that
fruit, you have to get out of there. But
for Malaysians, it’s a delicacy. A spectacular
thing, a treat. It’s their culture.
Uruguayan workers’
cafeteria
The Uruguayan workers just want
to get a piece of raw meat, bread, lettuce,
tomato and onion, and make a
Malaysian indigenous
chief sends a message
The site of the future Bakun
Hydro on the island of Borneo, in
Malaysia, was surrounded by indigenous
tribes. A few months after
I got there, I received a message
from the head of the indigenous
tribe, saying he wanted to meet me.
It was like a movie where I was the
leader of the white men and he was
the Indian chief. I had to go alone,
and my main concern was how I
would communicate with the tribal
chief. We ended up communicating
through gestures. And I had to eat
something I was absolutely sure
was some part of a monkey. To this
day I don’t know what it was that I
ate. It made me really nauseous, but
it was part of the job.
Record concrete pour
The construction of Los Huites
in Mexico was such a massive project
that we beat the world record
for monthly concrete pours. We
made the cover of ENR-Engineering
News Record magazine. It was
a high-visibility project for Odebrecht,
carried out in partnership
with Mexican companies. But what
caught my attention was the words
painted on the cemetery wall,
which read: “Fuera los brasileños”
(“Brazilians go home”). It took a
little time for the Mexican workers
to understand our philosophy, but
after about four months we noticed
that the wall of the cemetery had
been painted white.
84
informa

Next issue:
Sustainability
Founded in 1944,
Odebrecht is a Brazilian
organization made up of
diversified businesses with
global operations and
world-class standards of
quality. Its 150,000 members
are present in the Americas,
Africa, Asia.
RESPONSIBLE FOR CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AT CONSTRUTORA NORBERTO
ODEBRECHT S.A. Márcio Polidoro
RESPONSIBLE FOR PUBLICATIONS PROGRAMS AT CONSTRUTORA NORBERTO
ODEBRECHT S.A. Karolina Gutiez
BUSINESS AREA COORDINATORS Nelson Letaif Chemicals & Petrochemicals |
Andressa Saurin Ethanol & Sugar | Bárbara Nitto 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
Graphic Production Rogério Nunes
Graphic Design and Illustrations Rico Lins
Photo Editor Holanda Cavalcanti
Art/Electronic Publishing Maria Celia Olivieri
Printing 1,600 copies | Pre-Press and Printing Pancrom
EDITORIAL OFFICES Rio de Janeiro +55 21 2239-4023 | São Paulo +55 11 3641- 4743
email: versal@versal.com.br
Originally published in Portuguese. Also available in Spanish.

photo: Carlos Júnior
“To be effective,
teamwork requires
free, qualified, in-depth
communication between
people so they
can share and fulfill
the same priorities with
equal commitment”
TEO (Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology)
86
informa

informa
87