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In this issueNo. 120 • Vol. XXXII • Sept/Oct 2005

The San Francisco Project in Ecuador and the Odebrecht Base at Macaé, Rio deJaneiro, are respectively commemorating 18 months and three years of workwithout lost-time accidents

The DIS-Southern Lowlands program’s Aquaculture,Manioc and Hearts-of-Palm chains are carrying out thefull cycle of production, processing and sales

People developmentTechnicians and supervisors working on the SãoPaulo Metro’s Line 2 take part in a professionalrenewal and development program .......... 6

ArgentinaOdebrecht resumes operations in Argentina by helping build the San Martín natural gas pipeline.............................. 10

IrrigationNow under way in Venezuela, the El Diluvio-Palmar Project will benefit 77,000 people .. 22

TributeEmílio Odebrecht, the father of NorbertoOdebrecht, is honored in the Brazilian city of Ilhéus, Bahia .......................... 27

EnvironmentOdebrecht is providing environmental engineering services through a new subsidiary called Lumina .............. 32

OrganizationNorberto Odebrecht visits construction sitesin Ecuador and Venezuela .............. 35

PetrochemicalsPetrobras and Braskem are investing in theconstruction of a new polypropylene production unit in Paulínia, São Paulo .... 36

Responsible CarePresent in 52 countries, the ResponsibleCare

®Program will soon add new areas to

its purview, such as social inclusion .... 42

Arts and CultureProfessor Luiz Alberto Freire is this year’s winner of the Clarival do Prado Valladares Award ...................... 49

The Braskem Culture and Art Award enableseight artists to carry out their projects.... 52

SectionsMessage from the Board .................. 9

Community...................................... 14

Interview ........................................ 28

Profession........................................ 38

60 Days............................................ 40

Odebrecht Foundation 40 Years ...... 59

COVERSergio Efrain Guevara, an Occupational Safety Technicianworking on the San FranciscoHydroelectric Plant project inEcuador.Photo by Américo Vermelho

16

More and more women are working at Braskem’sindustrial units in the Alagoas, Bahia and Rio Grande doSul petrochemical complexes

2

In São Roque do Paraguaçu, Bahia, Odebrecht is takingpart in the construction of PRA-1, Petrobras’s first fixedrepumping platform

44

54

After earning a law degree from

the Federal University at Bahia in 1944,

Hamilton Prisco Paraiso lectured at the

Rio de Janeiro Catholic University

(PUC-RJ) Law School, Guanabara State

University (now UERJ) and the Getúlio

Vargas Foundation School of Public

Administration (EBAP).

For several years, he was also Ode-

brecht’s legal counsel and took part in

decisive moments in the Group’s

development in the 1970s, when the

company began establishing a pres-

ence in the southeastern part of Brazil

to build specialized technology pro-

jects such as the Angra dos Reis

Nuclear Power Plant, Rio de Janeiro

International Airport and the Petrobras

Building. He also accompanied the first

steps of the Group’s internationaliza-

tion and business diversification, taken

at the end of that decade, as well as

playing a part in the acquisition of

CBPO – Companhia Brasileira de Obras

in São Paulo and BPC – Bento Pedroso

Construções in Portugal.

In 1981, Hamilton joined the Board

of Directors of Odebrecht S.A., where

he acted as legal advisor and played

an active role in the Group’s legal and

corporate restructuring until 1998.

In the public sector, he was Chief of

Staff for the Ministry of Education and

Health in 1944, Secretary to the Presi-

dent of the Bank of Brazil in 1955, and

Chief of Staff and Interim Minister for

the Treasury Ministry in 1961. He also

played an outstanding role in several

other areas, as Executive Vice President

of Banco da Bahia S.A., Vice President

and General Consultant of Petroquími-

ca da Bahia S.A., Legal Consultant to

Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD), a

Member of Brazilian Bar Association’s

Federal Council, and a Member of the

Board of BNDES, Brazil’s national eco-

nomic and social development bank,

as well as the boards of Pronor S.A.,

Nitrocarbono S.A., Isocianatos S.A and

Unipar S.A.

Hamilton Prisco Paraiso passed

away on July 7 at the age of 82 in Rio

de Janeiro. Up until his death, he repre-

sented the Prisco Paraiso Advogados

law firm in Rio de Janeiro. He is sur-

vived by his widow, Maria Annita, and

three children, Celina Maria, Francisco

and Hamilton.

HAMILTON PRISCO PARAISO (1922-2005)

Chr

istia

n C

ravo

Founded in 1944, the Odebrecht Group is active inEngineering & Construction and Chemicals & Petrochemicals and invests in transportation, mining and oil ventures.Its 40,000 Members and subcontractors are presentin South America, Central America, North America,Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

Their work is guided by the Group’s entrepreneurialphilosophy, which was created and improvedthrough practice. The basic tenets of this philosophyare confidence in people, the Client’s satisfaction,decentralization, partnership among Members,return on Shareholders’ investments and the reinvestment of results.

www.odebrecht.com.brODEBRECHT

ODEBRECHT S.A.Av. Luís Viana, 2841Paralela41730-900Salvador, BA – BrazilPhone 55(71) 2105-1111

55(71) 3206-1111Fax. 55(71) 2105-1112

55(71) 3206-1112

CONSTRUTORA NORBERTO ODEBRECHT S.A.Praia de Botafogo, 300 11º and.Botafogo - 22250-040,Rio de Janeiro, RJ – BrazilPhone 55(21) 2559.3000Fax. 55(21) 2552.4448

São Paulo

Av. das Nações Unidas, 477705477-000 São Paulo, SP – BrazilPhone (11) 3443.9000Fax. (11) 3443.9017

• ANGOLAOdebrecht Angola Projectos e Serviços Ltda.Parque Empresarial OdebrechtRua Eng. Pedro Castro Van-Dunem “Loy”, s/nºLuanda - Angola

• ARGENTINAConstructora Odebrecht Argentina S.A.Reconquista 1166,Piso 10 –Capital Federal C.P. C1003ABX Buenos Aires – Argentina

• CHILEConstructora Odebrecht Chile S.A.Av. Lib. Bernardo O’Higgins nº 292, Of. 21Metro U. Católica,CP 6501242Santiago de Chile – Chile

• COLOMBIAConstructora Norberto Odebrecht de Colombia Ltda.Avenida 15, nº 101-09 Piso 6 – Edificio VanguardiaBogotá – Colombia

• ECUADORConstructora Norberto Odebrecht del Ecuador S.A.Av. 12 de Octubre nº 1942 y Cordero – Ed.World Trade Center – Of. 808 Torre A, Quito – Ecuador

• DOMINICAN REPUBLICConstructora Norberto Odebrecht S.A.Torre PiantiniGustavo Mejia Ricart nº 106Esq. Abraham LincolinSuite 201, 2º Piso - PiantiniSanto Domingo Dominican Republic

• MEXICOConstructora Norberto Odebrecht S.A.Homero, 418 – 6º pisoColonia PolancoCP 11560 – México, DF

• PERUConstructora Norberto Odebrecht Perú S.A.Av. La Floresta, 497 Of. 104 Chacarilla del Estanque San Borja – Lima – Peru

• PORTUGALBento Pedroso Construções S.A.Quinta da FonteRua Quinta da Quintã Edifício D. João I, Nº 4 Piso 1B - 2770-203 Paço de Arcos - Portugal

• UNITED ARAB EMIRATESConstrutora Norberto Odebrecht S. A.Corniche Road - 3 Sails Tower - Suite 1702KhalidiyaP.O.Box - 37.600Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates

Zommorrodah Building, 1st Floor, Office 15AAl Zabeel Road, Al Karama

P.O.Box - 114.155Dubai - United Arab Emirates

• UNITED STATESOdebrecht Construction, Inc.201 Alhambra Circle - Suite 1400 Coral Gables,Florida 33134 - USA

• VENEZUELAConstructora Norberto Odebrecht de Venezuela C.A.Centro Empresarial Torre Humboldt Piso 10Oficina 10 -13 Av. Rio Caura – Urbanización Parque Humboldt – Caracas Venezuela

BRASKEM S.A.Av. das Nações Unidas, 477705477-000 São Paulo, SP – BrazilPhone 55(11) 3443.9999Fax. 55(11) 3423.0420

OCS - ODEBRECHT ADMINISTRADORA E CORRETORA DE SEGUROS LTDA.

Av. Luís Viana, 2841Paralela41730-900Salvador, BA – BrazilPhone 55(71) 2105-1111

55(71) 3206-1111Fax. 55(71) 2105-1869

55(71) 3206-1869

ODEPREVODEBRECHT PREVIDÊNCIAAv. Luís Viana, 2841Paralela41730-900Salvador, BA – BrazilPhone 55(71) 2105-1111

55(71) 3206-1111Fax. 55(71) 2105-1869

55(71) 3230.0701

FUNDAÇÃO ODEBRECHTAv. Luís Viana, 2841Paralela41730-900Salvador, BA – BrazilPhone 55(71) 2105-1111

55(71) 3206-1111Fax. 55(71) 2105-1869

55(71) 3230.0701

DEAR READER,

Ahydroelectric project in Baños, Ecuador, and a

support base for offshore operations in Macaé,

Rio de Janeiro, are respectively celebrating 18

months and three years of sustained operation

without any lost-time accidents. A construc-

tion yard in São Roque do Paraguaçu, Bahia, is designed to

improve the quality of life of workers and members of the

local community.

Although they are being carried out in vastly different

settings, all three projects share the same hallmark: the

Group’s commitment to providing a high-quality working

environment for Odebrecht teams. Workplace health and

safety programs at the construction site in Baños and the

Macaé base are protecting and valuing the individual,while

outstanding facilities at São Roque do Paraguaçu provide

comfortable living quarters for workers,as well as access to

culture and recreation.

Underlying all of this is one of the Odebrecht Group’s

fundamental aims: providing education, safety and well

being for all its members.This encourages their self-devel-

opment and creativity and enables them to achieve high-

er productivity and better results, which are key to keep-

ing our clients satisfied.

Offering an educational, safe, healthy and hospitable

working environment is the first step towards ensuring that

Odebrecht members are motivated to do their best; ready,

willing and able to render service for the benefit of their

clients and the public good.

Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology – TEO“A company is a community of human beings; its

accomplishments are the accomplishments of human beings.And a human community must be grounded on common

values; it must symbolize unity based on common principles”

Vol. XXXII No. 120 • Sept/Oct 2005

ODEBRECHTINFORMA

Please send your suggestions and questions to the editors.

www.odebrechtonline.com.brResponsible for Corporate Communication at Odebrecht S.A.MÁRCIO POLIDORO

Reporters at Odebrecht S.A.

KAROLINA GUTIEZ

MIUCHA ANDRADE

Business Area Coordinators

MARCO ANTÔNIO ANTUNES PEREIRA

[Engineering & Construction]

NELSON LETAIF

[Chemicals & Petrochemicals]

Coordinator at Odebrecht Foundation

MARTA CASTRO

Editorial Coordination

VERSAL EDITORES

Editor-in-Chief

JOSÉ ENRIQUE BARREIRO

Executive Editor

CLÁUDIO LOVATO FILHO

Translated byH. SABRINA GLEDHILL

Art/Graphic Production

ROGÉRIO NUNES

Electronic PublishingMARIA CELIA OLIVIERI

Filmsetting

A.P. EDITORA

Printed by

PANCROM

Also published in Portuguese and Spanish

An in-house publication of the Odebrecht Group.Published by Odebrecht S.A.

PRINTING: 1,400 COPIES

Editorial OfficesRua Jardim Botânico, 674 – Sala 315 Jardim Botânico CEP: 22461-000Rio de Janeiro/RJ – BrazilTel.: 55 (21) 2239-1778

E-mail: [email protected]

6 ODEBRECHT INFORMA SEPT/OCT • 2005

Adão Francisco Dave, 50,is from Pinhão, Paraná,in the southeastern partof Brazil. He has spent 28years of his life working

at Odebrecht. He started out as a con-struction assistant, went on to earth-moving and grading, and later becamea surveyor. Now he is the GeneralSupervisor responsible for surveyingon the São Paulo Metro’s Line 2 pro-ject. Since he joined the company, hehas studied and learned a great dealfrom specific courses, but the greatestlessons have come from interactingwith leaders and co-workers on the job.When he started his career, he usedspreadsheets to record the measure-ments he took using rudimentaryequipment. Today, he has a comput-erized machine to do all that. It detectsnatural and artificial features of the areabeing surveyed and transmits the datadirectly to a computer and a program

that generates thenecessary charts andgraphs for the project’sengineers. Adão is aseasoned pro in hisline of work, but he

Technicians and supervisors working on the São Paulo Metro’sLine 2 project get anopportunity to learn,teach and grow

PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT

WRITTEN BY Eliana Simonetti PHOTOS BY Luciana De Francesco

Lessons in life and work

Classroom at theLine 2 constructionsite: opportunityfor experiencedprofessionals torefresh and add totheir knowledge

ODEBRECHT INFORMA 7SEPT/OCT • 2005

has gone back to the classroom to acquire evenmore knowledge. “I’m learning about what theother people working on the project are doing.I’ve always been more involved in the produc-tion side. Now I know where the information I’mgetting comes from and why controlling costs isimportant, and I understand what the other peo-ple working at the jobsite are doing.”

Adão is taking part in the Program for Devel-oping Technicians and Supervisors, which isbeing carried out at the Construtora NorbertoOdebrecht jobsite for the São Paulo Metro’s Line2 expansion project. Three times a week, duringtheir two-hour lunch breaks, Adão and 39 othertechnicians and supervisors attend classes on awide range of subjects. Their teachers are engi-neers and accountants, as well as fellow techni-cians and supervisors. All the participants – teach-ers and students – are members of the CNO teamthat is building the project.

This course is part of the Routes of Knowl-edge program, whose main objective is to ener-gize the application of the Odebrecht Entrepre-neurial Technology (TEO) and education throughwork by utilizing education for work. This is donethrough activities like the Program for Develop-ing Technicians and Supervisors, which areplanned and implemented on the basis of themobilization, commitment and involvement ofleaders and team members.

“We are giving priority to investing in thegrooming and development of our companymembers, and this program will meet the demandin regard to technicians and supervisors,” saysBenedicto Júnior, Construtora Norberto Ode-brecht’s Managing Director for Southern Brazil.The 40 students enrolled in the course are divid-

ed into two groups of twenty. They take theo-retical classes and participate in work groups.While sharing their experiences with their class-mates, they get to know co-workers with whomthey had barely had a nodding acquaintance,either because they were deeply involved in theirown activities or working on different sides ofthe construction site. This has been a highly grat-ifying experience for Maintenance SupervisorManfredo Mathias de Faria Filho, 44, who joinedOdebrecht just five months ago. “We have to becreative and exchange ideas if we want to do agood job. That makes all the difference in theworld.” A mechanic with 28 years’ experience,Manfredo has taken several professional edu-cation courses, but this is the first time he has hadan opportunity to learn about such a wide rangeof subjects.

Raimundo Cruz was born in Portugal 60 yearsago, and has spent half his life in Brazil. Every-one calls him “Uncle” Raimundo, and his cellphone never stops ringing. He gets all kinds ofrequests in his line of work. Raimundo joinedCNO in 1988 and is now the Maintenance Super-visor for Electrical and Hydraulic Systems on Line2. “I knew the people on the team and I knewmy job. Now, thanks to this program, I’m seeingthe whole picture and learning something aboutall areas of the project.”

The program is being carried out under theinstitutional guidance of Vera Gaspar, the CNOofficer responsible for People Development. “Weneed people who are not just good at doing spe-cific tasks but knowledgeable people who are insync with their leaders, know how to plan theirwork and are capable of professional and per-sonal growth that will enable them to take on

Adão: “Now Iunderstand whatthe other peopleworking at thejobsite are doing”

challenges now and in the future.” Theprogram has already been conductedin Angola, Portugal and Peru. Soon, itwill be introduced in other settings inBrazil and worldwide.

“People are more motivated, theyfeel more appreciated by the compa-ny and are better able to plan theirwork, because they understand thatwhat they are doing is key to ensuringthe productivity and profitability of theproject as a whole,” says Fábio Gan-dolfo, the Contract Director for Line 2.

As their teacher, Operations Man-ager Celso Rodrigues knows the pro-gram’s students well. He explains themore complex operations involved inbuilding an engineering and con-struction project to them in terms thatthey can understand. He says that theprogram has been adapted to the stu-dents’ interests. Many of them want-ed to learn more about workplace safe-ty; others were interested in the finalreport and balance sheet produced atthe end of a project. As a result, thesesubjects have been included in thecourse. “People who once went unno-ticed are asking surprisingly insight-ful questions and displaying a keencuriosity. Above all, the classes are anopportunity to identify talent.”

According to Ivan Correa, the offi-cer responsible for Administration andFinance and the Operations Coordi-nator for the Line 2 project, “It is grat-ifying to see how intensely our teammembers are getting involved andcommitted to the program, acting asteachers and learners at the same time.”

Ciro Barbosa, the CNO officerresponsible for Administration, Plan-ning and Finance for Southern Brazil,observes: “The Routes of Knowledgeprogram presupposes the continuousgrooming and development of the com-pany’s members, transforming a con-tract team into a permanent source andsharer of knowledge and ensuring thatpeople are prepared to deal with thechallenges they will meet in the future.”


“Uncle”Raimundo:“I’m seeing the whole picture and learning something about all areas of the project”

Manfredo: the first time he has taken part in a wide-ranging education program

Ciro Barbosa, the CNO officer responsi-

ble for Administration,Planning and Finance

for Southern Brazil, underscores the main

objectives of the Program for Developing

Technicians and Supervisors:

* Adding value to the technicians and

supervisors currently working on all areas

of the company’s projects, offering them

an opportunity to refresh their skills and

become multiplier agents for knowledge.

* Identifying, developing and hiring

new technicians and supervisors through

an ongoing process of grooming and

educating people.

* Mobilizing, developing and hiring

young people with outstanding abilities

and potential to groom them as techni-

cians and supervisors who can handle

the increasingly complex and varied

requirements of CNO’s business.

“Old pros” refresh their skills


Relationships between people are the basis for providing services

In the context of the increas-ingly complex and chal-lenging dynamics of mod-ern entrepreneurship, Iwould like to underscore a

conceptual change that must bemade in regard to the art of doingbusiness: increasingly, we are liv-ing in a world of services andknowledge.

I am not referring to the conceptof services in the ordinary sense ofthe term. I am referring to anotheraspect of this business, which isbased more on interactions be-tween individuals than betweencompanies. Therefore, I would liketo propose that the emphasis ofbusiness relations be shifted tointerfaces between people – be-cause the basic difference betweentwo companies with the same qual-ifications will be the understand-ing they have reached regardingwhat the Client wants to be and do– the essence of the act of render-ing services.

The activities involved in engi-neering and construction are usu-ally viewed generically as services.Nevertheless, an Engineering &Construction company that wantsto stand out from the competitionmust not only make it its businessto “satisfy the Client,” as ourFounder, Norberto Odebrecht,always says, but ensure that it isincreasingly qualified to identifythe present and future needs of thecommunities it serves or wishes toserve, and do so in a timely fash-ion. The next step is bringing

together the players who can mobi-lize the resources needed to meetthose needs, including the key fig-ure of the Client, whom the com-pany must serve from the political-strategic, strategic-entrepreneur-ial and entrepreneurial-operationalstandpoints. In this sense, the exe-cution of the venture (project) perse will not always be the mostimportant factor.

Therefore, the internationalcompetitiveness of our Engineer-ing & Construction activities isdirectly linked to our competencein identifying needs and Clients,and consequently in structuringand developing businesses. Thismeans offering Clients our specif-ic technological expertise and ca-pacity for general management,practicing environmentally andsocially responsible entrepreneur-ship, and ensuring the political,economic and social viability ofventures that the communities needand the Client has either takencharge of or established as a dreamthey want realized.

When applied to industry, theconcept of services can encompassthe entire supply chain throughclose and constant interaction withthe Client, research and develop-ment support, value-added, shareddreams and partnering, and trans-lates as the creation and applica-tion of knowledge for the benefitof that Client.

Braskem teams up with itsdownstream Clients, partneringwith them to develop new busi-

nesses in the plastics manufactur-ing sector with a view to drivingthe growth of the entire petro-chemicals supply chain – bothupstream and downstream.

The aim is to ensure thatBraskem is seen not only as the bestsupplier or raw materials but as asupplier of technical and commer-cial solutions that boost develop-ment and add value to the sector.

As a result, our commitment torendering service can be broad-ened by transforming our very com-petencies into services. In otherwords, the knowledge we sharewith our Clients will become morethan just a means of providing themmore and better service if the lead-ing players in a business enable theClient to become the co-owner ofthat knowledge, which will resultin fresh qualifications and exper-tise for both Client and serviceprovider.

Entrepreneurial organizationscannot grow without the right peo-ple, because the growth of organi-zations is a direct outcome of thegrowth of the people who comprisethem.

Entrepreneurial organizationscan only grow if they build thefuture every day. Therefore, iden-tifying, hiring and grooming peo-ple to undertake the commitmentto rendering services to our Clientswith the highest quality, and takepleasure in doing so – a basic tenetof the Odebrecht EntrepreneurialTechnology – is still our most grat-ifying and enduring challenge.

MESSAGE FROM THE BOARDEMÍLIO ODEBRECHT CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

WORKPLACE SAFETY

Néstor Chicaiza Ramirez, an Odebrecht

member working on theSan Francisco project;opposite, operating a

crane: the results ofworkplace safety efforts

have been achievedthrough persistence,

education and thesupport of management

The San Francisco Hydroelectric Projectin Ecuador and the Odebrecht Base atMacaé, Rio de Janeiro, in June respec-tively reached the milestones of 5 millionand 12 million person-hours worked with-

out any lost-time accidents. These figures, which werereached by calculating the number of hours workedby each project’s crew, correspond to 18 months withzero lost-time accidents for the project in Ecuador andthree years for the base in Brazil. The reason for theseachievements goes well beyond the correct use of indi-vidual protection equipment (IPE).

“It takes persistence to raise people’s awareness,sensitize them about the importance of following safe-ty guidelines and educate them to do so,” says Orlan-

do Santini. As the officer responsible for WorkplaceSafety on the San Francisco Project, Orlando heads a40-person team, including safety engineers and tech-nicians, doctors and support personnel. “Above all,these results are due to support from management,the involvement of everyone on the team, and indi-vidual attitudes and actions,” he adds.

According to Contract Director José Conceição San-tos, safety protocols have to be an integral part of theproject from the very beginning, including the bud-geting stage. “You can’t improvise that sort of thing.”He says that the team’s maturity and a strong senseof unity among the people building the hydroelectricplant are key factors for the success of the San Fran-cisco Project’s safety program. José Conceição’s expe-


AN OBSESSIONUnprecedented safety figures obtained on the San Francisco project and at the

Macaé Base reflect Odebrecht’s constant pursuit of excellence in workplace safety

WRITTEN BY Cláudio Lovato Filho • PHOTOS BY Américo Vermelho


rience with mining projects is a great help.“This is a dangerous project. We are workingat depths of up to 800 meters underground.Therefore, we are applying safety conceptsused on mining projects, where high risksrequire strict protocols and procedures andspecial precautions, including ventilation andvisibility.”

There are 1,360 people working on the pro-ject. Most are local hires with no prior expe-rience of working on major construction pro-jects. They underwent extensive educationand training before being hired, and safetywas a critical part of that process. By July 2005,the safety team had carried out 1,500 trainingand educational procedures and 1,040 inspec-tions of the site, vehicles and equipment. Over100 risk analyses involving specific trainingand 70 procedures were developed and imple-mented in the same period.

Daily work training sessions, or DWTs, area highly important part of this process. Calledcharlas in Spanish, these safety chats take justa few minutes. Held by the supervisors beforean activity begins, they provide instructionsand reminders and ensure that everyone graspsthe spirit of the task ahead.

Civil construction works supervisor NainGalarza Bermeo says that the most importantthing is instilling confidence in the work team.“The workers have to understand that every-thing has been carefully planned and thoughtout ahead of time. A leader must win people’strust in order to be followed.”

Luís Joel Burgos Bernal is an Ecuadoriansafety engineer who has been with Odebrecht

since 1998. He saysthat it is importantto maintain “objec-tive communicationand a clear focus.”

Burgos was a construction worker for 16 yearsuntil he earned a degree in Industrial Engi-neering in 1980. “We do our best to identifythe risks involved in each job, determine theprocedures to be followed and provide the nec-essary guidelines. After that, we conscien-tiously and respectfully ensure that they arefollowed.” And Burgos’s fellow countrymanVitor Mosquéra, also a Safety Engineer, ob-serves: “It is important to display knowledge

Six months ahead of scheduleWork on the San Francisco project is well advanced: 57% of the civil con-

struction is complete. The project is named after the village where it is situ-

ated in the municipality of Baños, in the central Ecuadorian province of Tun-

gurahua. Construtora Norberto Odebrecht has been building the project on

the Pastaza River since November 2003 for HidroPastaza S.A., a corporation

whose shareholders include Hidroagoyán, a state-owned company, and Ode-

brecht. Most of the financing is being provided by the BNDES, Brazil’s nation-

al economic and social development bank.The project, which includes a 11.2-

km tunnel, will use water discharged by the Agoyán hydroelectric plant’s tur-

bines and increase Ecuador’s power generating capacity by 12%, producing

212 MW (megawatts) of electricity. The San Francisco Project is six months

ahead of schedule and should be up and running by the end of 2006.

The Workplace Safety Program management team at San Francisco: from left, Dr.Diego Ortiz, Patrício Palacio, Luis Burgos, Orlando Santini, Byron Andrade andVictor Mosquéra. Right, in the yellow jacket, Antônio Gaspar

and experience and approach the subject respectful-ly, with a focus on education.”

According to Eduardo Barbosa, the officer respon-sible for Administration and Finance, one of the fac-tors that helped the project achieve the milestone of5 million person-hours worked without any lost-timeaccidents was the synergy between teams from all thedifferent programs involved, obtained through an effec-tive communication system.

He points out the intensive work being done withthe supervisors, who are on the front lines and serveas a link with the work crews. Through their supervi-sors, Eduardo adds, the workers realize just how much

attention the management team is paying to them,and this motivates them to take preventive measures.“By achieving credibility and setting an example, weare laying down the basic safety guidelines that mustpermeate all levels of the project. And that is what weare doing here in San Francisco.”

SAFETY IS ALSO A VALUE AT MACAÉ The same safety precautions can also be seen in

the day-to-day operations at Odebrecht’s Macaé Base,which provides support to Petrobras for the mainte-nance of offshore platforms installed in the CamposBasin, off the coast of Rio de Janeiro State, that pro-


Macaé Base member working on a Petrobras platform in the Campos Basin: strict safety procedures ensure the well being of teamsworking in high-risk conditions

Foto

:Ro

ber

to R

osa


duce 80% of Brazil’s oil output. The Macaé Base is cur-rently carrying out three contracts, the biggest of whichis the Petrobras South Asset, made up of four platformswhere Odebrecht keeps a crew of about 600 profes-sionals. Both for the people working onshore and theworkers aboard the platforms, safety procedures arealmost an obsession.

“We want to get people to be more and more com-mitted,” says Edney Coutinho, the officer responsiblefor Workplace Safety at the Macaé Base. The main tools

used to achieve this are training andinformation, but the teamalso carries out a BehavioralAudit program and a Zero-Accident Campaign, offer-ing prizes and bonuses toencourage the proper use ofsafety equipment.

The measures being taken to ensure the safety ofOdebrecht members at the Macaé Base begin at theoffice of Dr. Nelson Salen, the physician who coordi-nates periodic check-ups, physical conditioning pro-grams, psychological tests (to determine their abilityto work in confined spaces, for example) and occu-pational safety information campaigns. The goal iszero personnel sent ashore due to illness. The flu isthe most frequent reason for leaving the platform ear-

ly to return to the mainland. Providing support for off-shore workers’ families is one feature of the work ofthe Macaé Base’s medical area. “The doctor’s officeis always open to company members’ relatives,” saysNelson. “Workers spend 15 days at a time on the plat-form. If they know that their families are being welltaken care of, they won’t worry as much about themand will be able to concentrate on their work. We haveto be proactive.”

Occupational Safety Technician Augusto CésarRaguzzoni knows how important it is to be proactivein the offshore sector. “We have to know all abouteach individual’s health: if they’re fit to work in con-fined spaces, have high blood pressure or some oth-er problem.” Augusto spends most of his time off-shore. Even on Petrobras platforms, when more than50 Odebrecht members are working there, the pres-ence of the company’s occupational safety techniciansis mandatory. They take turns on the platforms, work-ing in shifts. “On the platforms, each proceduredepends on PTs (work authorizations), which givesyou a good idea of the precautions taken with thework being done there.”

Contract Director Miguel Gradin is convinced thatachieving results like 12 million person-hours with zerolost-time accidents depends on a combination of fac-tors, such as a competent team, an understanding with

From left, Dr. Nelson Salen, Augusto Raguzzoni, Miguel Gradin and Edney Coutinho


As he walks through the construction site for

the San Francisco Project,Antônio Gaspar,the Con-

strutora Norberto Odebrecht officer responsible for

Workplace safety,pays attention to every detail.And

he calls attention to safety protocols and proce-

dures and key situations for safe operations,some

of which might go unnoticed by an untrained vis-

itor.In one section of the tunnel,he observes that

used materials and items that are about to be used

- piles,metal plates,connections – are stacked up

against the walls.“That leaves the way clear for peo-

ple and vehicles to get through and makes it safer

to move around.”Then,he points to a worker doing

a job on some scaffolding.He is wearing all the nec-

essary gear,or individual protection equipment (IPE)

– from a safety belt with a lifeline attached,to a mask

to filter the air,as well as eye and ear protection.

Gaspar frequently visits Odebrecht’s projects

in Brazil and other countries,taking along his sup-

port team,his experience and his knowledge.Part

of his job is to engage in dialogue with contract

managers to help make their workplace-safety

strategies even more effective.“The San Francisco

project and the Macaé Base are examples that

must be followed,”says Gaspar.“They are practic-

ing our principle of maintaining installed capaci-

ty at the jobsites for the full development of safe-

ty programs.”

Sérgio Leão,the Construtora Norberto Ode-

brecht officer responsible for Workplace Safety,

Health and the Environment,adds:“The main hall-

mark of examples like the San Francisco project

and the Macaé Base is the implementation of a

structured program for continued learning.”

Sérgio Leão observes that there is a decisive

combination of factors at the San Francisco pro-

ject and the Macaé Base, including the focus on

training and advance preparations for the tasks

involved in a given job;educating and training the

teams at the helm of safety programs;getting the

necessary support from the management team;

interaction between the contract management

teams – Planning,Engineering and Production –

and the safety team,particularly in regard to risk

assessment;and the active role that safety plays in

the task of always providing instructions and train-

ing whenever any questions,opportunities or new

situations arise that need to be assessed.

the client, ongoing education, awareness raising and training, and the man-agers’ presence at the work fronts. “But more than anything else, it is key tobelieve it is possible,” he stresses. “For us, safety is a value that originatesfrom a real concern for the welfare of each and every one of our companymembers. We prioritize prevention and strive to ensure that people havepeace of mind and can do their job well and effectively. In this context, ourwork with members’ families has been fundamental.”

The idea of family also permeates the environment at the Macaé Base.“Here our co-workers are always demanding that everyone use safetyequipment and have a preventive attitude. We know that accidents canhappen any time and that is why we are always on the alert, watching outfor ourselves and others,” says Boilermaking Supervisor Valdecir Botelho,better known as “Badeco.” “We’re like a very close family.”

A worker at theMacaé Base Pipeshop:co-workers ensurethat everyone followssafety procedurescorrectly

“Examples that must be followed”


Gaining new hopeand new lives

Nearly 80,000 Venezuelans will enjoy the benefits of the El Diluvio-Palmar project. Many are already benefiting from fresh

prospects while the irrigation system is under construction

IRRIGATION

WRITTEN BY Humberto Werneck • PHOTOS BY Holanda Cavalcanti

SEPT/OCT • 2005

The El Diluvio-Palmarproject, the first largeirrigation system built inVenezuela in the pastthree decades, will con-

vey water to hundreds of small farms,creating the conditions for develop-ing agribusiness activities in the Mara-caibo region of the western part of thecountry. Until now, the main economicactivity there has been livestock hus-bandry on a small or medium scale.

About 77,000 people stand to ben-efit from the project, either directlyor indirectly, through increased workopportunities and a better life. They

will no longer be forced to emigratein search of jobs, and this will solveanother serious problem by encour-aging the orderly settlement of aproblematic part of the Venezuelanborder that is currently exposed tothe activities of guerrillas and the traf-fic in drugs from Colombia.

“What we are doing here is muchmore than building an engineeringand construction project,” says Ode-brecht Contract Director Ivan Joventi-no, who is responsible for the El Dilu-vio-Palmar irrigation system project.“We are also making a major contri-bution in human terms.”

The first contract for the projectwas signed in the late 1990s with theNational Rural Development Insti-tute (Inder), an agency of the Ve-nezuelan Government. At the time,the project consisted of a 48-kmpipeline-and-channel network. Fiveyears later, Odebrecht was invited tobroaden the physical and, above all,the social scope of the project byadding secondary and tertiary bran-ches to the system. Begun in Novem-ber 2003, the project is scheduled forcompletion by July 2007.

According to Civil Engineer Ti-bisay León, the President of Inder:“There is a relationship of mutualteaching and learning between Inderand Odebrecht.” And she adds: “To-gether we have overcome all the

obstacles that have arisen in thecourse of this enterprise. We areworking in a coordinated and cohe-sive manner with team spirit.” TibisayLeón points out that the benefits ofthis project include the creation ofnew jobs in the region, and the appre-ciation of indigenous culture.

Agricultural Engineer Dulce Her-moso, from Inder, is the coordinatorof the El Diluvio-Palmar Manage-ment Unit. In her view, “The contri-bution that Odebrecht has made goesbeyond technology – it is also humanand social.” This positive feedbackis very gratifying for José ClaudioDaltro, the Odebrecht officer respon-sible for Administration and Financein Venezuela, who sees it as recog-nition of the company’s “hard workbased on social responsibility.”

WORKING IN A HIGH-RISK AREAAbout 30 subcontractors are tak-

ing part in the construction of thepipeline and channel under Ode-brecht’s supervision. The system willobtain water from El Diluvio reser-voir, when the dam is completed.Located near the Perijá mountainrange, which borders Venezuela andColombia, the reservoir will be formedby the Palmar and Lajas rivers. Thewater will travel through steel pipesfor the first 9 km, and an open 38.3-km trapezoidal channel lined with a

ODEBRECHT INFORMA 23

Local residentsfrom the area

where the channel is being

built: expectationsthat an agri-

business center willflourish there


polyethylene geomembrane willtake over from there.

The pipes are 9 m in lengthwith varying diameters - 3.20 m,3 m, and 2.80 m – the solutionfound to facilitate transportationby sea from the Brazilian city ofRecife to Maracaibo, Venezuela,since the sections of pipe fitinside each other in threes. Thewater that will flow through thepipeline will make it possible toirrigate 20,000 ha of land, includ-ing 10,000 ha during the initialphase. Rainfall on the Mara-caibo plain averages 1,000 mmper year, but the conditions forwater accumulation are poor,partly because the average tem-perature in the region is 33ºC.

The biggest challenge of theproject, however, is not techni-cal, but social, since it is beingbuilt in a high-risk area. Whe-ther pursued by soldiers from theirown country or in search of supplies,guerrillas from neighboring Colom-bia regularly infiltrate Venezuelanterritory. Farmers are often held forransom to raise money for the guer-rilla movement. Between Januaryand early August of this year, no lessthan 13 kidnappings were reported

in the region. Farmers are forced topay protection money, and paintedfence posts signal “fincas vacunadas”– literally “vaccinated farms” – mean-ing that their owners have paid offthe kidnappers to avoid being taken.

In the specific area where the ElDiluvio Project is being built, the sit-uation is less dire thanks to the pres-

ence of security forces madeup of members of the Ve-nezuelan Army, the NationalGuard (the equivalent of theFBI or Federal Police) and a pri-vate company called Oriandes.Suspicious planes no longerland on the strips of groundbeing cleared to build thecanal. "It has been two yearssince an incident was report-ed here,”says Army MajorBenjamín Santana Morales,one of the people in charge ofthe security system.

The people building theproject are also kept safe byan alternative security pro-gram that is informal but high-ly effective – the so-called anil-lo invisible de seguridad (invis-ible security cordon) formedby local residents. On theirown initiative, without pay, the

local population has developed a sortof “neighborhood watch” – an infor-mation network that is always on thealert to detect and warn of any abnor-mal movements in the area. "If wedon’t take care of the people who arehelping us, then who will?” explainsfarmer Julio González, the leader ofthe 1,200 inhabitants of Los Jagüeyes,

Inder President Tibisay León: team spirit

Ivan Joventino and Dulce Hermoso: integrating cultures

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The willingness and enthu-

siasm to work with and for

Venezuelans is also reflected in

the program to groom and

develop young Venezuelan engi-

neers and managers who are

working for Odebrecht on the El

Diluvio-Palmar project. In addi-

tion to their day-to-day respon-

sibilities at the construction site,

they also attend readings,meet-

ings and debates that are

enabling these enthusiastic

young people to learn and get

the most out of the principles

and concepts of the Odebrecht

Entrepreneurial Technology

(TEO).Their mentor is a Brazilian,

Arthur Nemrod, the Odebrecht

officer responsible for Adminis-

tration and Finance on the El

Dilúvio-Palmar project.

“Through this program,Ode-

brecht is reaffirming its com-

mitment to the community

about hiring and grooming

young Venezuelan entrepre-

neurs to work on its projects,”

observes Arthur Nemrod.“This

commitment is growing steadi-

ly and producing results that are

exceeding even the highest

expectations.”

According to one of the par-

ticipants,Fernando González,the

officer responsible for IT and

Telecommunications on the pro-

ject,“The most important thing is

the leader’s confidence in his team

members.”He and his co-workers

all stress the valuable contribution

that this experience is making by

enabling them to work alongside

people from many and varied cul-

tures and countries.

Hiring Venezuelan workers

and imbuing them with Ode-

brecht’s philosophy is always a

priority. Including subcontrac-

tors’personnel,just 10 of the 863

workers at the construction sites

in early August were non-

Venezuelans: seven Brazilians,

two Peruvians and one Ecuado-

rian.“We all have different per-

spectives, and that is a major

plus,” says Diego Robalino, the

Ecuadorian, who is the officer

responsible for the Commercial

Area and Contract Management

at El Diluvio-Palmar. According

to Robalino,the result of that mix

could be described as “Venezuela

with Odebrecht sazón (season-

ing).”

The outcome of this experi-

ence was one of the contribu-

tions Robalino made to his co-

workers during a recent visit to

Brazil, when he took part in the

Program for Grooming and

Developing Entrepreneurs (PDE).

“We’re not inventing anything

new,”he says,“but because of the

unique and subtle characteris-

tics of this project, our experi-

ence at El Diluvio could certain-

ly be very useful in other parts of

the world where Odebrecht will

be working in the future.”

“A Venezuela with Odebrecht sazón”Young Odebrecht engineers and managers working on the project: growth opportunity

one of the four indigenous settlementsin the region. "We are the benefi-ciaries of this project, so we have totake care of it,” adds Julio’s sister,Maritza González, the leader of 1,540members of another community,called El Laberinto. Some of the ben-efits she mentions arrived well beforethe canal. And they are among themain concerns of Peruvian Civil Engi-neer Julio Robles, from Odebrecht,the project’s Development Manager:"We have to carry out programs thatwill allow the project to establishroots,” says Robles, who firmlybelieves that it would be no use build-ing a channel that ended up as noth-ing but a scar running across theMaracaibo plain because it lacked asocial dimension.

This is what the project is all about.Water still comes from afar, brought inin tank trucks (many times, throughthe intercession of Odebrecht), but thesituation is changing. "Odebrecht isthe first company that has taken us intoaccount,” says Maritza. For example,unlike the hiring policies on previousprojects, the people building El Dilu-vio are hired locally instead of beingbrought in from other parts of the coun-try. As a result, rural workers (60% ofwhom are of indigenous descent, likeJulio González) have had the oppor-tunity to receive professional educa-tion and training, which immediatelyopened up prospects of better wages.To give an idea of the change this hasmade in their quality of life, farm work-ers make 40,000 bolivars (about USD17.00) per week, construction workers

on the El Diluvio-Palmar Project make19,641.25 bolivars per week. A ma-chine operator – like former farm work-er Julio Cesar Cuadrado, Maritza’s hus-band – earns at least 23,950 bolivarsper day.

Many of the women have foundwork as domestics – a brand new jobmarket – in the homes of techniciansbrought in to build the channel. Theycan also find formal employment at theOdebrecht camp. Others have dis-covered a new market for their home-made sweets. Yarizza González ob-serves that even some maleteras– localprostitutes who roam the streets car-rying beach mats – have changed theirline of work.

“People’s quality of life is over 50%better here,” says Julio González. Andhe is not just talking about work oppor-tunities. The machines had not evenarrived by Christmas of 2001, whenlocal children met their first SantaClaus (or San Nicolás as they call him).Since then, he has visited them everyDecember, spreading joy with giftsfrom Odebrecht. This is additional evi-dence that Euzenando Azevedo, Ode-brecht’s Managing Director forVenezuela, is right when he says, backin Caracas, that: “Venezuelans likeour way of life, which prevents anypossibility of rejection,” basing hisobservation on the experience of liv-ing in that country since 1994.

The way of life Euzenando isreferring to reflects the company’sunwavering disposition: "Odebrecht

is committed to carrying out projectsin Venezuela, but it has also under-taken a commitment to this country,”he emphasizes. "We are here to workwith and for the Venezuelans. Wearrived with a vision of a long-termfuture – we’ve come to stay.”

Thanks to the company’s efforts,the children living on the Maracaiboplain no longer drop out of school, asthey once did. As a result of one Ode-brecht initiative, their schools are nowmuch more comfortable places tolearn. The El Laberinto educationalunit used to have just one bathroom;now there are eight, and the princi-pal has her own office.

Improvements like these, and notjust at the school, have ended up cre-ating a healthy rivalry with the CityHall of Jesús Enrique Losada munic-ipality, which was initially wary of thenewcomers. However, this naturalsuspicion has completely vanished,replaced by an atmosphere of coop-eration. Has Odebrecht paid to havethe school painted? In a flash, May-or Mario Urdaneta has a new nurse’soffice built. Is the school out of ink?The mayor provides it. A beneficialcompetition is underway, and every-one stands to win. "In life we mustbe like a bell,” says Yarizza Gonzálezin her poetic way. She explains:"There has to be a coming and going,a giving and receiving. Here at ElDiluvio-Palmar, we are the bell tow-

er of this church thatis taking shape.”


A time for celebrationand acknowledgment

TRIBUTE

In February 1932,builder Emílio Ode-brecht delivered theblueprints for theIlhéus Business Asso-

ciation’s headquarters build-ing to its president, MisaelTavares. A little over twoyears later, on July 14, 1934,Emílio delivered the keys tothe building that symbolizedthe economic might of theonce-powerful cocoa plant-ing industry. The associationis headquartered there tothis day.

Held on July 14, 2005,the celebrations of the 71stanniversary of the completion of this project included atribute by the Ilhéus Business Association to the builderEmílio Odebrecht (1894-1962). Emílio’s daughter GerdaOdebrecht attended the ceremony as the Odebrecht fam-ily’s representative.

Held in a packed auditorium, the tribute began witha dramatization of the moment when Emílio Odebrechthanded the plans for the building to Misael Tavares, oneof the leading planters known as “cocoa colonels,” per-formed by local actors. By that time, Emílio had alreadybuilt the mansion in which Misael lived, as well as theIlhéus Hotel, the first building in Bahia outside the statecapital equipped with an elevator. The dramatizationshowed that when Emílio handed over the blueprints, hewas accompanied by young Osório de Carvalho, the engi-neer responsible for the execution of that project. Osório’swidow, Janira Amorim de Carvalho, and other membersof his family were also present at the ceremony.

The current President of the Ilhéus Business Associ-ation, José Leite de Souza, gave a speech saying that:

“This institution wanted topay homage to its past, andtherefore it chose EmílioOdebrecht as a way of pub-licly expressing its gratitudefor the lovely and solid lega-cy he built for us.”

The speakers at the trib-ute ceremony also includedProfessor Antonio CarlosGomes da Costa, whose talktitled “Being an Entrepre-neur” was based on theeponymous book he haswritten to analyze the entre-preneurial thinking of Nor-berto Odebrecht. Antonio

Carlos said that Norberto’sthinking and works stem directly from his father, EmílioOdebrecht, and other predecessors. “The entrepreneurNorberto Odebrecht’s education began with a solid fam-ily upbringing whose essence was the spirit of service,”he said.

The President of the Ilhéus Business Association pre-sented Gerda Odebrecht with a diploma awarding EmílioOdebrecht the posthumous title of Benefactor Memberof that institution. She thanked him for the recognitionand expressed her “immense joy” at being in a buildingthat her father built and seeing that “this structure is stillsound, beautiful and very well cared for.” Gerda observedthat the city of Ilhéus played an important role in the his-tory of Emílio Odebrecht & Cia. “Therefore, in additionto thanking the Ilhéus Business Association, I would alsolike everyone who trusted the builder Emílio Odebrecht71 years ago: as you can see, they were right to do so,”she concluded.

João Sá, Márcio Polidoro and José Raimundo Lima,from Odebrecht S.A., attended the tribute ceremony.

The Ilhéus Business Association pays tribute to builder Emílio Odebrechton the 71st anniversary of the completion of that institution’s headquarters

WRITTEN BY José Enrique Barreiro • PHOTOS BY Almir Bindilatti

Gerda Odebrecht accepts the diploma from José Leite de Souza


The learnings of aWORLD traveler

The two biggest challenges Luciano

Guidolin, 33, has ever faced arrived at the

same time. In mid-2004, he became

responsible for the Braskem Polyolefins

Unit's exports area shortly before the

K-Fair, the largest plastics trade fair in

the world, which is held every three years

in Dusseldorf, Germany. This would be

Braskem's first participation in such an

important event, and its main

international clients, particularly the

Europeans, would be visiting the

company's stand to discuss business and

future plans. Three days before the K-Fair

began, Guidolin became a father for the

first time. He spent four days at the

hospital with his wife and child in São

Paulo, took them home, and flew to

Germany in time to take part in the fair.

“Taking that flight was one of the hardest

things I've ever done,” recalls Guidolin.

“But nothing comes without sacrifices,

and it has all been worthwhile.” He has

since taken many international flights

and collected numerous stamps in his

passport, as well as – and most

importantly – broken records for

Braskem's exports: they totaled over

USD 500 million in the first half of 2005.

Guidolin shares the credit for this

achievement with the entire Braskem

team, and they are all justly proud,

but he has a special reason to celebrate.

He joined Odebrecht 10 years ago as an

intern fresh out of the University of São

Paulo Polytechnic, where he graduated

in Production Engineering. In the

petrochemicals sector, he worked in

the Corporate Planning area, and took

part in the merger process that created

Braskem, and was responsible for

Marketing and Development at the Vinyls

Business Unit.

He has also spent two years in Boston,

Massachusetts, where he earned an MBA

from the Harvard Business School, summa

cum laude. “I've had the opportunity to

take on growing challenges that I never

dreamed would arise so quickly or be so

major. This demonstrates that the Group

truly believes in young people and their

desire to grow.”

INTERVIEW

WRITTEN BY Nelson Letaif

Odebrecht Informa – Braskem haspublished its results for the firsthalf of the year, including overUSD 500 million in exports, whichmeans a projected USD 1 billionfor the year. Only a select groupof Brazilian companies has ach-ieved that figure. How is this pos-sible?Luciano Guidolin – First of all, ourproduction units have achievedhighly positive performance. Bras-kem's investments in the expan-sion of these units have increasedour production capacity comparedwith last year. Productivity andoperational reliability have alsoincreased. Part of that productionis earmarked for export. We havedeveloped our logistics structureto support the sales drive focusedon the foreign market. In the lastnine months, we have also gonethrough a period of higher prices

and margins in the internationalmarket. The result of all of theseexperiences has been that bothvolume and profitability havegrown. Furthermore, Braskem hasprioritized some foreign markets,including Argentina and Chile,where the company is takingimportant steps to increase its mar-ket share.

OI – How are these efforts beingrewarded?LG – This year, Braskem hasrecorded significant export figuresfor polyolefins. We broke threerecords in the field of exports inthe last eight months. In additionto making us very happy, this hascreated a tremendous challengefor our sales, production and logis-tics teams, because the companyis working with unprecedentedvolume.

OI – In addition to growing its exportrevenue, has Braskem increased thelist of buyer nations? LG – Yes, we are now exporting toover 50 countries and have adopted astrategy of gaining access to interna-tional markets that focuses on estab-lishing a closer relationship with eachdistributor and end client. We haveestablished South America as our nat-ural market, where we provide ser-vice that is similar to what we offer ourBrazilian clients in terms of proximityand the intensity of services, whileestablishing regular distribution basesand a constant flow of products to someEuropean countries, as well as Africaand Asia. This year we have seenimportant growth in South Americaand increased our presence in theAsian markets. Our aim is to maintaina level of exports that ensures theyalways represent something like 20%of Braskem's net income.


Luciano Guidolin on the Great Wall of China:

working closely withinternational markets is

fascinating and motivating

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OI – Is there any product in par-ticular that stands out among thecompany's exports?LG – One of the highlights is Utec®,the registered trademark for ourultra-high molecular weight(UHMW) polyethylene, which isproduced at Camaçari. It is a high-value-added engineering plasticused in technical parts, fibers usedto make bulletproof vests and oth-er applications. Braskem is theworld's second-largest manufacturerof the product. It is a high-perfor-mance plastic resin developed byBraskem engineers in our ownlabs, which gives us competitiveadvantages over century-old inter-national petrochemical companies.This demonstrates that we can alsosatisfy our clients' needs in the spe-cial resins segment. We want tobecome the world's leading Utecsupplier by 2010, which will meandoubling our production volumeduring that period. This presentsa highly motivating challenge forthe foreign sales team and the Utecbusiness. We recently won theAbiquim Innovation Award forUtec. The Brazilian ChemicalIndustry Association bestows thisaward on companies with out-standing performance in the fieldof technology. It represents therecognition of the entire industryin Brazil for the success of thisproduct and Braskem's develop-ment efforts.

OI – Why did Braskem decide toestablish a strategic presence ininternational markets, instead ofrelying on circumstance, like somecompanies, to compensate fordownturns in the domestic market?LG – Braskem understands thatexports are always going to be animportant part of its production andsales strategy. They already rep-resent about 20% of the compa-

ny's total earnings. Exports are keyto not only optimizing and maxi-mizing production but to position-ing Braskem as a company thataspires to grow into a leading,world-class petrochemical pro-ducer. This international presencedemonstrates that the company hasproducts of recognized quality andlong-term relationships with itsclients both in Brazil and abroad.Braskem also has a strategy ofgaining more profitability for itsoperations through long-term con-tracts. We have already establishedcontractual relationships withclients on three continents. Theaim of these contracts is to gainmore profitability through a clos-er relationship with clients whenoffering products and services.Braskem's growth plans will defi-nitely make the company a play-er in the world market.

OI – Will these growth plans even-tually benefit domestic consumersas well?LG – Our Brazilian clients will def-initely enjoy the benefits. Theinternational market is highly com-petitive in terms of prices and theefficiency of the supply chain. Thisdirectly impacts the developmentof products and new solutions, theimprovement of logistics process-es, packaging and so forth. As aresult of all of this, Braskem isdeveloping its processes andbecoming more and more com-petitive. Braskem is also increas-ingly providing support for thoseclients who are starting to take aninterest in operating outside Brazil.Our sales office for Utec in theUnited States has also tended tobe an “incubator” for Braziliancompanies. A major client of oursis being “incubated” by our officein the United States and will devel-op its operations in that country on

the basis of Braskem's experiencethere. We are also placing ourexperience at the service of ourother clients. I should stress thatthe support Braskem provides itsclients is making them more com-petitive and giving them moreexposure in the world market,thereby increasing Brazilian ex-ports of manufactured plasticproducts.

OI – Is the export market as prof-itable as the domestic market?LG –The profitability of our SouthAmerican operations is similar tothose in Brazil. These are naturaland strategic markets for Bras-kem. In other parts of the world,results from exports have beenlower, but they have also made animportant contribution to the com-pany's cash flow. Furthermore,they have given us access to finan-cial operations that provide exportguarantees, which is another wayof reducing Braskem's capitalexpenses. Exports are creatingvalue for the company and estab-lishing Braskem as an increasinglyinternational company with stead-ily diminishing business risk inthe eyes of the world markets.

OI – Is Braskem prepared to beco-me a global supplier for majorinternational companies?LG – Absolutely. A major clienthas compared us to the world'sleading plastic resin producers.That client manufactures packag-ing, and we are their suppliers onthree continents, which puts us ina highly positive position, bothfrom the standpoint of the prod-uct's performance and service,logistics, etc. We are easily able toanalyze and provide services forany contract or partnership. How-ever, we must do more than sup-ply products to clients in other


countries. We are chiefly interest-ed in establishing long-term rela-tionships with strategic clients.That is what enables us to makeincreasing improvements to ourproducts, reduce supply chaincosts and create value for ourshareholders and our upstreamand downstream operations.

OI – Have your work routine andlife changed very much since youtook this job?LG – They've changed a lot. Onthe personal level, it has beenextremely interesting to come intocontact with different cultures, peo-ple and partners around the world.This sort of work involves a greatdeal of travel, time spent in air-planes and stamps in my passport;long-haul flights and lengthy staysaway from Braskem's headquar-ters. But all my travels have beena very valuable and interestingexperience in terms of relationshipsand cultural perspectives.

OI – Is fluency in English the onlyrequirement, or do you need tobrush up on other languages be-fore coming into contact with dif-ferent cultures?LG – Today, it is vital to have a goodcommand of the English language,as well as Spanish, which is increas-ingly becoming a key factor. As forother languages, such as Mandarin,Korean and Japanese, we alwaysget the help of an interpreter or abusiness partner who speaks thelanguage. In the future, Braskem'smembers will include people whospeak all of those Asian languagesfluently, because China, SouthKorea and Japan are very impor-tant markets for us.

OI – Does protocol sometimes re-quire unusual behavior by Brazil-ian standards?

LG – Of all the cultures we havecome across, Asia is certainly themost different from Brazil. Protocolrequires endless dinners with a longseries of toasts, which has been avery unusual experience. In theChinese culture, for example, thehost chooses a complete dinnermenu and the guest is speciallyasked to try every single dish thatis put on the table. Sometimes theguest is given a special treat, suchas eating a 50-cm fish head withhis hands, and the greatest delica-cy is the eyes. I experienced thatin Hong Kong. It would be impo-lite to refuse such an honor. Otherdishes, such as bird's nests madefrom the regurgitated saliva ofswallows, are also on the menu, aswell as even more exotic tid-bits.

In China, one never says no to anoffer or rejects a proposal. One says“perhaps,” or “I'll think about it.”We have to understand what ourpartner is trying to tell us. And wealways have to have one person ina delegation who is identified asthe leader of the mission. All of thishas been an invaluable learningexperience.

OI – Will you have the energy tocontinue with this challenge forvery long?LG – Being close to the front lineof the business and internationalmarkets is fascinating and highlymotivating. Braskem's develop-ment program and internationalambitions present years of oppor-tunities and motivation.


“Exports create value

and establishBraskem as an

increasingly international

company withsteadily

diminishing business risk inthe eyes of the

world markets”

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An essentialfield of activity

ENVIRONMENT

Odebrecht now provides environmentalengineering services through a new

subsidiary called LuminaWRITTEN BY José Enrique Barreiro and

Ricardo Arnt

PHOTOS BY Almir Bindilatti and Holanda Cavalcanti

Cetrel’s facilities atCamaçari: a Braskem

affiliate, the company isnow partnering with

Lumina to treatindustrial waste


There is promise forgrowth in the environ-mental services marketcreated by legal re-quirements and the

burgeoning ecological awareness inBrazil. Competition from foreign com-panies entering the Brazilian market,the lowering of import barriers andthe demand for eco-friendly exportswith “green seals” have forced Brazil-ian companies to rethink costs andconcepts, particularly losses incurredduring productive processes. Reduc-ing, reusing and recycling waste, aswell as properly treating and dispos-ing of it, are environmentally respon-sible measures that add value to prod-ucts, improving their efficiency andeconomic performance and enhanc-ing the image of the companies thatmake them.

Following the Group’s traditionof recognizing and seizing newopportunities, Odebrecht Engineer-ing & Construction is now active inenvironmental engineering throughLumina, a subsidiary established inJuly 2004.

Lumina brings together Ode-brecht’s experience in structuringmajor engineering projects in Braziland other countries, and the envi-ronmental protection expertise of

Cetrel, a company originally creat-ed to provide industrial waste man-agement services at the CamaçariPetrochemical Complex.

“We believe in the potential ofthe environmental sector,” says Mar-co Cruz, Managing Director of Lumi-na. “The culture of environmentalprotection has always been an inte-gral part of our work, but carryingout and providing environmental ser-vices on a large scale is new to us.”Previously CNO’s officer responsiblefor Peru and Central America & theCaribbean, Marco Cruz has spent 18years of his life in Lima, Peru; Pana-ma City, and Santo Domingo, thecapital of the Dominican Republic.He adds that his next challenge willbe “consolidating a business that willmeet the market’s many and vary-ing demands, while winning andmanaging qualified contracts with afocus on the client.”

Lumina is active in four areas:industrial waste treatment, urbanwaste treatment, wastewater treat-ment with a focus on water reuse,and managing water and sewer con-cessions.

Lumina has teamed up withCetrel to treat industrial waste. Thatpartnership resulted in the creationof Cetrel Lumina, a company formed

by both partners for that specific pur-pose. Founded 27 years ago, Cetrel’soperations have expanded beyondthe Camaçari complex, and theindustrial waste management com-pany now provides its services to arange of clients from other parts ofBrazil.

Lumina’s services will also includethe treatment of urban waste. “Wastetreatment and disposal requires envi-ronmentally sound solutions, whichis not happening in most Braziliancities,” says Paulo Couto, the Lumi-na officer responsible for BusinessDevelopment. Less than 30% ofmunicipalities dispose of urban wasteappropriately, and the sanitary land-fills that do exist are reaching satu-ration point. In most cities, trash isdisposed of in open-air dumps, whichare seriously harmful to the envi-ronment in many ways. For exam-ple, there are over 500 municipali-ties in São Paulo State, one of themost developed parts of Brazil, andonly half have landfills. São PauloCity, the state capital, produces about12,000 tonnes (metric tons) per dayof household waste.

Urban sanitation requires invest-ments from municipal governmentsthat are often beyond their means,which creates a demand for public-

Lumina, asubsidiary of CNO,is associated with

ODEBRECHT Engineering& Construction. In the area

of industrial wastemanagement, Luminaworks in partnership

with Cetrel.

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private partnerships. “This marketis in need of a technological upgrade,particularly when it comes to wastetreatment and disposal,” says PauloCouto.

In the area of wastewater treat-ment, the cost of water is on the risedue to increased consumption andnew laws and government regula-tions setting taxes on water obtaineddirectly from rivers. Large industri-al consumers such as petrochemicalplants, oil and gas companies, steelmills, mines and car factories are tak-ing measures to reuse water instead.

Lumina will also manage munic-ipal water and sewer services throughconcession agreements, as well asoperating water supply and treatmentand sewage disposal systems, just asÁguas da Limeira has been doing for10 years in the city of Limeira, SãoPaulo. Lumina owns a stake in thatcompany, in partnership with theSuez Group from France.

CETREL-LUMINA PARTNERSHIPWhen Cetrel began operations

in 1978, the Camaçari Petrochemi-cal Complex was just getting start-ed. Now called the Camaçari Indus-trial Complex, it contains petro-chemical plants, car factories, paperand pulp mills, copper plants and

breweries. Over the course of its 27years, Cetrel’s original mission of col-lecting, treating and disposing of liq-uid and solid waste produced bycompanies at that industrial districthas broadened and the environ-mental protection company has tak-en on greater responsibilities.

Today, Cetrel has a modern treat-ment plant that handles organicwaste from 62 companies, the equiv-alent of a city of 2 million people. Itscollection system is 60 kilometerslong, and includes eight pumpingplants and a 5-km marine outfall thatdischarges treated wastewater intothe sea with excellent dilution anddispersion. Cetrel owns and oper-ates the largest incinerator facilitiesin Latin America, including sophis-ticated incinerators for hazardouswaste, both liquid and solid.

“We have broadened and diver-sified the range of environmentalservices we provide to keep pacewith the industrial district’s expan-sion,” says Dênio Cidreira, 38, thecompany’s executive director. Sinceits inception, Cetrel has acquirednew competencies, expanded its lab,hired people with master’s degreesand doctorates from foreign univer-sities and started providing diag-nostic tests and measurements for

contaminated areas and air-qualitymonitoring, among other services.

As a result, Cetrel Lumina canoffer its clients integrated solutionsfor all kinds of industrial waste. “Wewill manage these services in accor-dance with the Total Waste Man-agement (TWM) concept, includingthe installation of waste treatmentplants,” says Paulo Couto.

Cetrel Lumina’s operations alsofocus on decontaminating degrad-ed areas and providing emergencyservices to clean up oil spills. “Wehave planned integrated measuresinvolving Environmental Protectionand Civil Defense centers to inter-vene after an accident that couldpotentially endanger the environ-ment,” says Marco Cruz. “It’s like aspecial task force for crisis man-agement.”

As a result, Cetrel is expandingits client base beyond Camaçari andrendering its services in other mar-kets. Cetrel Lumina is already pro-viding environmental services to 40clients outside the Camaçari Com-plex through over 100 industrialwaste processing contracts. “Cetreland Lumina complement each oth-er,” says Dênio Cidreira. “Our chal-lenge is to harness these synergiesand grow.”

Lumina’s management team: from left, Eduardo Frediani, Leopoldo Godoy, Antonio Ibarra, Marco Cruz, Paulo Couto and Fernando Jucá


Presence at jobsitesNorberto Odebrecht visits construction sites in Ecuador and Venezuela,

talks to company members and discusses the social impact of the projects they are building

WRITTEN BY Cláudio Lovato Filho

Norberto Odebrecht, Honorary Chairmanof Odebrecht S.A. and President of theBoard of Trustees of the Odebrecht Foun-dation, paid a visit in August to the siteswhere the Carrizal-Chone System is being

built in Ecuador and a bridge is being erected across theOrinoco River in Venezuela. He had a first-hand look atthe progress of these two projects, listened to reportsabout them, and talked to young company members. Hewas particularly interested in learning about the socialimpacts of these ventures.

Pedro Novis, President and CEO of Odebrecht S.A., andJosé Augusto Mendes, the company’s officer Responsiblefor Organization and People, accompanied Norberto Ode-brecht during his visits to these two countries. Represent-ing Construtora Norberto Odebrecht S.A. were its CEO,Marcelo Odebrecht, and Carlos Hupsel, the CNO officerresponsible for Planning and Development.

On August 9, Norberto Odebrecht visited the sitewhere the Carrizal-Chone System is under constructionin the western Ecuadorian province of Manabí. The pro-ject will solve the problem of water shortages during thedry seasons and prevent flooding in wintertime. The sys-tem includes a network of channels that are being builtunder the leadership of Contract Director Ricardo Boleira.Fernando Reis, Odebrecht’s Managing Director for

Ecuador, gave a talk on the company’s operations in thatcountry, which also include the construction of the SanFrancisco Hydroelectric Project under the responsibili-ty of Contract Director José Conceição Santos.

Norberto Odebrecht arrived in Venezuela the follow-ing day. In Puerto Ordaz, he visited the bridge constructionsite on the Orinoco. While there, he heard presentations byManaging Director Euzenando Azevedo and Contract Direc-tor Estevão Timponi, Antonio Carlos Daiha Blando, Marce-lo Colavolpe and Ivan Joventino, who are respectivelyresponsible for four different projects underway in that coun-try: the bridge, the Caracas Metro, Los Teques Metro andthe El Diluvio-Palmar Irrigation Project.

During dinner on both evenings of his two-day trip,Norberto Odebrecht paid special attention to the youngOdebrecht members working in the two countries. Hespoke to them about his professional experiences, dis-cussed philosophical aspects of Odebrecht’s operations,and asked them for details about the projects’ socioeco-nomic benefits. At Carrizal-Chone, Odebrecht is helpingthe client, Corporación Reguladora del Manejo Hídricode Manabí (CRM), develop programs aimed at ensuringthe sustainability of projects being carried out there. Nor-berto Odebrecht also talked to local farmers to find outwhat their lives are like today, and what they are doingto prepare for the new realities ahead of them.

Norberto Odebrecht (top row, center, conversing with Pedro Novis) during hisvisit to the Carrizal-Chone System jobsite in Ecuador

A scene from the visit to the Orinoco River bridge construction site:foreground, Norberto Odebrecht and Estevão Timponi

ORGANIZATION


Braskem is striving toconsolidate its com-manding marketshare for polypropy-lene in Brazil, look-

ing beyond the year 2007.” Thisannouncement by Luiz de Men-donça, the Braskem Vice Presidentresponsible for the Polyolefins Unit,signals the future trends for this busi-ness in Brazil and worldwide. Poly-propylene, a plastic resin that wasintroduced in the chemicals industryin 1954 and first hit the market in1960, is increasingly present in peo-ple’s daily lives because it is used inalmost everything we see around us:food packaging, textiles and cos-metics, pop bottle caps and freezercontainers, even car bumpers andpanels. Polypropylene can also be

used to make toys and householdappliances, broom and brush bristles,sacking, safety nets for construction,disposable diapers, hospital productsand furniture, among many otherproducts.

Because of its versatile applica-tions, polypropylene consumption inBrazil is growing 10% per year. Thecurrent demand is 1 million tonnes(metric tons) per year, and by 2007 itwill be 1.2 million t/yr. It will also bethe year when Braskem and Petro-quisa, a Petrobras subsidiary, willbegin running the polypropylene pro-duction unit to be built in Paulínia,São Paulo. “The decision to invest inthis new plant demonstrates our con-fidence in the growth of the Brazil-ian economy and the thermoplasticresins market,” says Braskem Entre-

preneurial Leader (CEO) José Car-los Grubisich.

Construction of the plant, whichwill be situated in the heart of Brazil’smain consumer market for polypropy-lene, will require a total investmentof USD 240 million. The new unit willhave an initial production capacity of300,000 to 350,000 tonnes per year,but the aim is to reach 400,000 t/yr,in addition to the 650,000 t/yr thatBraskem already produces at the Tri-unfo Petrochemical Complex in thestate of Rio Grande do Sul. The newunit is expected to earn an averageof over USD 300 million annually.

Initially, the Paulínia plant willsell 40% to 50% of its output in thedomestic market. The remainder willenable the company to increase itsexports of this product. “This new

ENGINEERING THEFUTURE AT PAULÍNIA

PETROCHEMICALS

WRITTEN BY Karolina Gutiez • PHOTOS BY Holanda Cavalcanti

Petrobras and Braskem are investing in a new plant with a view to joining the exclusive club of the world’s top 10 polypropylene manufacturers

“

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unit will position Braskem as animportant player in the internation-al polypropylene market, rankingamong the world’s top ten produc-ers of that plastic resin,” says LuísFelli, the company’s Sales Directorfor Polypropylene. The main im-porters of the Braskem PolyolefinsUnit’s production are Argentina,Chile and Peru, followed by Europeand Asia, particularly China. “TheChinese market will show robustgrowth, according to forecasts ofpolypropylene consumption, andBraskem will keep pace with thatdevelopment,” adds Felli.

The process technology thatBraskem will contribute to Paulíniais the most advanced of its kind onthe world market, and the key tomaking the expansion project possi-ble. Braskem has two plants calledBulk 1 and Bulk 2 at the Triunfo Petro-

chemical Complex that are identicalto the unit being built in the interiorof São Paulo State. “Basell, the com-pany that licenses the Spheripol tech-nology, has hailed these plants as thebest in Brazil and an internationalbenchmark for quality and produc-tivity,” observes Luiz de Mendonça.To ensure that Bulk 3, the new plantin Paulínia, stays at the cutting edge,Braskem has signed an agreementwith Basell to upgrade its technolo-gy until 2010.

In a competitive and promisingmarket like the polypropylene sec-tor, Braskem is using technology tostand out from the competition: inno-vation, the development of new prod-ucts and plans for replacing othermaterials. The aim of all this is toensure the loyalty of the company’skey-clients. “Braskem is pursuinggrowth in its segment of the market

in order to consolidate its command-ing market share. The strategy forachieving this is to offer outstandingproducts and services without caus-ing predatory competition and unfairpricing,” explains Luís Felli.

The master plan for the new unithas been completed. The next stepis creating a Specific Purpose Part-nership (SPE) in which Braskem willhave 60% of the voting stock andPetroquisa will own 40%.

Both companies will share themanagement of the Paulínia unit: inaddition to supplying the technology,Braskem will be responsible for prod-uct marketing and sales, technicalassistance and client service; Petro-quisa will supply the raw materials –polymer-grade propylene.

The shareholders will contribute30% of the USD 240 million cost ofthe project and the remainder will beobtained through specific long-termloans. “We are investing in a world-class unit that combines productionscale, state-of-the-art technology andaccess to raw materials on competi-tive terms,” says José Carlos Gru-bisich.

Braskem’s next step will be tosign the engineering and construc-tion contracts to build the plant.Then, the process of hiring newcompany members to operate thefacility will begin. These teams willbe trained at the Bulk 1 and Bulk 2plants. Other important features ofthe project are logistics involvingraw materials and the final product,as well as advance marketing, whichwill begin in early 2007.

All of these operations must be inplace by the time the plant is up andrunning. “The Paulínia unit is the firstbrand-new installation, or what wecall a ‘greenfield’ project, that Bras-kem has taken part in since its incep-tion three years ago. And we areacquiring a taste for this kind of chal-lenge,” observes Luiz de Mendonça.

Luiz de Mendonça and Luís Felli: expanding polypropylene exports


They work at the fore-front of capitalism –financial marketing.Their job is to con-duct an economic

analysis of a growing group ofshareholders made up of peoplewho make lifelong investments toensure a comfortable retirement,as well as institutions that makemassive investments every day toensure their solidity and growth.

They deal with information thatcan be expressed mathematically,as well as things as fragile andephemeral as credibility, trust andreputation.

For them, the world is dividedinto the sell-side (banks, brokers,investment analysts), which rep-resents the interests of the com-panies seeking the resources theyneed to grow; and the buy-side:institutional investors that man-age other people’s money, such aspension funds and insurance, aswell as private investors. They areprofessionals who multiply the val-ue of businesses, develop marketsand influence financial transac-tions worth trillions of dollars.Their profession: investor relations,or simply, IR.

“This is a strategic activityaimed at establishing closer rela-tions between a publicly tradedcompany whose shares are listed

on the stock market, and investors,”explains José Marcos Treiger, theBraskem officer responsible for IR.“It involves corporate communica-tions, finance and marketing, andprovides investors important andaccurate information about thecompany’s performance. Amongother things, it enables the com-pany to play a more active role inthe process of developing its ownshare prices, as well as maintain-ing and improving its credibility.”When they do their work effec-tively, says Treiger, IR profession-als can increase the company’s mar-ket value in the long-term whilereducing capital costs.

The people responsible for IRact as intermediaries in commu-nications between companies andthe market in general. “This sortof communication is important andhas grown tremendously due tothe global competition for investorsand capital that now includes Chi-na, India and other emergingeconomies, as well as Brazil itself,”explains Treiger, who has closelyfollowed developments in theBrazilian market for years – firstat Aracruz Celulose, then at thenewly privatized CompanhiaSiderúrgica Nacional - CSN, andsince October at Braskem.

Until recently, RI was calledMarket Relations in Brazil. It

existed to fulfill a legal require-ment, and was usually includedin the responsibilities of a com-pany’s CFO. According to Treiger,the watershed happened in 1992,when Aracruz became the firstBrazilian company to list its shareson the New York Stock Exchange.Since that pioneering move,Brazil has risen to third placeamong countries with the largestnumber of non-US companiestraded on Wall Street. The Unit-ed Kingdom is number one, fol-lowed by Canada. Thirty-fivemajor Brazilian companies arelisted.

“When someone is exposed toa sophisticated market – and theBrazilian market wasn’t as sophis-ticated back then as it is today –they realize that the market is atwo-way superhighway: it providesresources but demands accurate,transparent and impartial infor-mation in good time and on sched-ule, observes Treiger. “Wheneversomething important happens in acompany, the market wants toknow about it in order makeinformed decisions on whether tokeep, buy or sell that company’sstock.”

The people responsible for IRdeal mainly with financial ana-lysts, but it is also important forthem to keep a channel of com-

TRUST AND TRANSPARENCY

PROFESSION

WRITTEN BY João U. G. Sant’Anna • PHOTOS BY Luciana De Francesco

Braskem’s José Marcos Treiger discusses his work as an officer responsible for Investor Relations


munication open with all stake-holders, including company mem-bers, clients, suppliers and the com-munity.

“The field of investor relationsis closely linked to credibility andreputation,” says Treiger. “Anyoneworking in this area must maintaintheir credibility in the market,because once it’s lost it is almostimpossible to regain. If you provideincomplete or false information thatleads thousands, or even millionsof people to invest in your shares,and then come back tomorrow witha different story, there’ll be hell topay. We have to avoid that sort ofbehavior like the plague. At thesame time, companies must devel-op a culture of good governanceand transparency and release cer-tain amounts of strategic informa-tion. We have to determine the opti-mum level of strategic planning that

can be made public in order to allowinvestors to predict the company’sfuture results, bearing in mind thatthe market doesn’t like surprises.As a result, we will develop an out-standing image in the market thatwill differentiate us from other pub-licly traded companies – our com-petition.”

If a company gains a reputationfor refusing to divulge information,people will lose interest in its shares,says Treiger. “Another importantaspect of the job is business infor-mation. There are certain kinds ofbusiness information that are keptsecret in a private, family-ownedfirm, but it’s a different story for pub-licly traded companies. We have toprovide enough information aboutthe company’s business perfor-mance so analysts can adapt theirmathematical models and predictits future performance.”

Following the publication ofBraskem’s results for the secondquarter of 2005 and accumulatedresults for the second half of theyear, the company’s IR team wasdeeply involved in the final prepa-rations for Braskem Day at the NewYork Stock Exchange. September6 was devoted to Braskem on WallStreet, and the company took theopportunity to celebrate its thirdanniversary. Braskem’s Entrepre-neurial Leader (CEO), José CarlosGrubisich, gave a presentation toAmerican market analysts onBraskem’s recent performance andplans for growth at the Board Roomof the world’s most important stockexchange. Then, at 4 pm, Grubisichwas invited to ring the famousNYSE bell to close the day’s trad-ing. That event was seen aroundthe world on television and theInternet.

José Marcos Treiger(center) with Luciana

Ferreira and LuizHenrique Valverde


SOCIAL INCLUSION AND A FOCUS ON QUALITY

RESPONSIBLE CARE

WRITTEN BY Miucha Andrade • PHOTOS BY Holanda Cavalcanti

Thirteen years after the first Brazilian version of the program was introduced, a conference announces new focus areas for Responsible Care®

Since the 1980s, Responsi-ble Care® has been a prin-ciple and managementpractice for petrochemicalcompanies around the

world. The Brazilian Chemical Indus-try Association (Abiquim) introducedthe program in Brazil in 1992. Creat-ed in Canada by the Canadian Chem-ical Producers Association (CCPA),and now present in 52 countries, itwas the first to set out guidelines forhealth, safety and environmental per-formance. Today, Responsible Care isa registered trademark knownthroughout the world. Thirteen yearsafter the Brazilian version – called“Atuação Responsável” – came intobeing, the program is being revisedto broaden its scope and encompassmore focus areas such as social inclu-sion and the quality of products andprocesses.

Jorge Soto,Braskem's Cor-porate Managerfor Health, Safetyand the Environ-ment, is also thecoordinator ofAbiquim's tech-nical commissionon ResponsibleCare. At theNinth Responsi-ble Care Confer-ence, held on July27 and 28 in São

Paulo, he gave a presentation on themain directives, new managementpractices, degrees of implementationand management model for theBrazilian version of Responsible Carenow being introduced.

One of the reasons behind thischange was the pursuit of consisten-cy with existing verification systemsused by the Brazilian chemical indus-try, such as ISO 9000, ISO 14000 andthe National Quality Award. "We areseeking interactivity among these sys-tems," says Soto. Another reason wasthe incentives being given for com-panies to develop their health, safe-ty and environmental performanceeven further. "We have created twomore levels of assessment for com-panies that have already reached thelevel of continuous improvement," heexplains.

According to Soto, in recent years,the public has become increasinglyinterested and involved in matters thatgo beyond health, safety and envi-ronmental protection, such as socialresponsibility, sustainable develop-ment and quality. "We have includ-ed these themes in the ResponsibleCare program," he says.

The program is also beingreformed in response to public con-cerns about the uses and effects ofchemical products. "Responsible Carewas more focused on industrial plants,but now it is also concerned with therisks involved in using certain prod-ucts throughout their life cycles. Thisis new for the chemical industry anda global phenomenon," explainsMarcelo Kós, Abiquim's Manager forTechnical Affairs.

A total of 460 industry represen-tatives attendedthe conference,which providedan opportunity forprofessionals toget together anddiscuss the inter-national mana-gement of chem-icals, environ-mental protectionand the work ofthe Brazilian Min-istry of Health,among other sub-jects.

Jorge Soto speaking at the Ninth Responsible Care Conference in São Paulo


José Maria Bach, the director ofthe International Council of Chemi-cal Associations (ICCA) Group ofResponsible Care Leaders, intro-duced the Responsible Care Char-ter for the first time in the world. Thisdocument contains a set of principlesto be followed by the chemical indus-try (see box).

During the conference, Abiquimlaunched the latest edition of theResponsible Care Report. It containsdata covering the period between2001 and 2004, demonstrating thepositive changes that have takenplace in the chemical industry's per-formance. According to Soto: "Therehas been a systematic improvementwith every passing year." A reduc-tion in the number of workplace acci-dents, a 27% drop in the amount ofindustrial waste produced, and thegradual replacement of non-renew-able fuels with renewable energysources are some examples of the

improvement of the chemical indus-try's health, safety and environmen-tal performance.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions,one of the main causes of the green-house effect, have fallen annually forthree consecutive years. In 2004, theindustry produced 354 kg of CO2 pertonne of chemical products, comparedwith 384 kg/t in 2001. The amount ofwater consumed by the chemicalindustry fell from 10.65 cu.m per tonnein 2001 to 7.7 cu.m/t in 2004. Raisingthe awareness of professionalsinvolved in production processes hasbeen key to the program's success.

Hélcio Colodete, the Braskem offi-cer responsible for the Energy andEssential Services area, gave a pre-sentation at the conference on theresults of measures the company istaking to reduce its consumption ofwater resources. "Our goal is to pro-duce zero wastewater in four years,at least at the thermal power plant,"

he explains. Hélcio pointed out thatthe rational use of water and energysources is a priority in Braskem'sstrategic planning. "All of the com-pany's business units are imple-menting programs in those areas."

The Responsible Care program isa benchmark for the Brazilian chem-ical industry. "We are going to includethese guidelines in our practices inorder to bolster our management,which is based on the OdebrechtEntrepreneurial Technology (TEO),"says Soto.

Each of the Abiquim member com-panies will determine the next stepsto be taken. At Braskem, the newResponsible Care program will beimplemented as of 2006. "It gives methe greatest satisfaction to contributeto the future of a program that is soimportant to this industry. Braskem isdeeply involved in this process andtherefore we are absorbing knowl-edge naturally," says Soto.

• Adopting the basic principles ofResponsible Care

• Furthering the process of sus-tainable development

• Continuously improving themanagement and disseminationof information on performance

• Intensifying product manage-ment

• Carrying out Responsible Care inproduct supply chains

• Supporting national and globalgovernance processes forResponsible Care

• Meeting stakeholders' expecta-tions

• Providing the necessaryresources Braskem Unit in Alagoas: the chemicals industry reduced its waste output between 2001 and 2004

Arq

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em The general

principles for

Responsible Care®

that will be

officially introduced

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Making preparationsfor a unique project

OFFSHORE CONSTRUCTION

WRITTEN BY Luciano Martins • PHOTOS BY Luciano Andrade

Odebrecht is building Petrobras’sfirst fixed repumping platform in the state of Bahia, a project that will change thelives of the tiny community of São Roque do Paraguaçu

Petrobras’s construction yard in the SãoRoque do Paraguaçu district, south of Todosos Santos Bay in the Brazilian state of Bahia,came out of mothballs in May 2004, near-ly two decades after it was shut down. The

reason: it is now being used to build PRA-1, the firstfixed repumping platform made in Brazil, as well asthe first ever built for Petrobras. This project is alsounique because it will be the first Engineering, Pro-curement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) con-tract carried out in this country, enabling Brazil todevelop a range of new technologies in the field ofoffshore construction.

Petrobras supplied the master plan when the projectwas getting started. Now Odebrecht, in a joint venturewith Ultratec, is responsible for the detailed engineering,procurement of all equipment and materials and the con-struction of the platform modules, as well as transportingand installing the platform off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.As Contract Director Fernando Barbosa, a firm believerin using engineering as a tool for successful design andplanning, explains: “We have to determine the charac-teristics of the equipment and materials, ensuring thatthey arrive just in time at the construction site, and assem-ble immense modules on four stories, each equipped withoutsized electronic and hydraulic systems, pumps and

valves. And we must build this gigantic project with thesmallest possible margin for error.”

The leader of the project has assembled a task forceincluding engineering,planning and procurement, assign-ing the engineers the mission of not only producing thedocumentation needed to build the project but deter-mining what will be needed to carry out each stage andensuring that all those needs are met within the ideal time-frame. “We are working with suppliers from all over theworld, and they are responsible for producing and deliv-ering a vast and varied range of items and equipment,many of which are being created especially for this pro-ject,” observes Fernando Barbosa.

Over 80 lots of purchases containing thousands of itemshave to arrive at the yard right on time to prevent nega-tive impacts on cash flow. “We always have to keep aneye on the results, but at the same time everything has tobe done with maximum concern for environmental pro-tection and the health, safety and quality of life of ourteams and the local communities,” adds Fernando.

The project got going on May 28, 2004. The base forplanning, engineering, procurement and logistics was setup in São Paulo, which in itself helped create a new Brazil-ian hub specialized in offshore construction, a sector pre-viously concentrated in Rio de Janeiro. The professionalsand partners who are building the platform at the Petro-bras yard in Bahia were recruited from the joint-venturepartners’ teams with an emphasis on local hires in order toinvest in the development of nearby communities.

Jorge Luiz Mitidieri, the technical officer responsiblefor Engineering and Planning, observes that bringingtogether the areas of engineering, procurement, planningand contract management in the same office has enabledthe entire team to visualize and understand the project inits entirety. “Over 75% of the engineering has been com-pleted, and we are going to keep our commitment to deliv-er this stage of the project by the end of the year.”

A Petrobras team of about 30 professionals headed byengineer Cristina Alves is present at the project’s São Pauloheadquarters. The overall engineering is the responsibil-ity of engineer Juan Carlos Ribeiro and his team. It willtake 19 months and involve as many as 100 people. In theend, the team will have produced 1,800 engineering doc-uments and 6,000 documents from suppliers.

From the start, as Petrobras requested, the engineer-ing has been carried out in 3D using PDS software, whichmakes it possible to visualize every stage of the project’splanning and execution. The program produces three-dimensional images for every area, including metal struc-ture, piping systems, electrical systems, instrumentation,air conditioning, architecture and equipment.


Workers at the SãoRoque do Paraguaçuyard: taking part in a project that is a first for Brazil


COMPLEX PROCUREMENT PROCEDURESEnsuring that every single part, instrument and piece

of equipment arrives at the construction yard just in timeis one of the major challenges of the PRA-1 project. Las-zlo Paal, the officer responsible for Procurement, explainsthat once the prospecting stage has been completed, theengineers issue purchase requisitions containing all thetechnical specifications for each order. “The Procurementarea then obtains advance information about the avail-ability of each item on the market in order to produce alist of suppliers and the purchasing plan.”

Described that way, the process seems relatively sim-ple. However, there must be at least three suppliers for eachitem, except in cases of highly specialized equipment. Fur-thermore, real manufacturing conditions must be confirmedon a case-by-case basis, which not only involves the spe-cific quality of the materials but strict compliance with envi-ronmental and social norms for production. Importationdocuments and changes in the price of steel on the inter-national market must also be taken into consideration.

Purchasing takes place in stages, including the pre-sentation of the technical documents for each supplier,with all the details specified by the engineering teamapproved, before fabrication is authorized. Once the equip-ment is ready, it undergoes inspections and tests that couldrequire the presence of Petrobras representatives beforeshipment can be authorized. Then, orders can only beshipped after their packaging has been thoroughly inspect-ed. This process only ends when the order is delivered atthe construction yard or the supplier provides technicalassistance when required to assemble the equipment.

This cycle takes place time and again, for 50 kinds oflarge-scale equipment, which involve 500 units, as wellover 150 items such as piping systems and electrical, instru-mentation and telecommunications materials, which canbe broken down into over 5,000 parts. “Quality, safetyand environmental protection must be assured in everysingle case,” stresses Laszlo Paal. “Planning is key toensuring that everything goes smoothly.”

ALL VARIABLES UNDER CONTROLIvan Carvalho, the officer responsible for Contract

Management, handles the four management departmentsin charge of the project as a whole to ensure that the con-tract is carried out to the letter. “There are many unpre-dictable factors on offshore construction projects like thisone, particularly when building this repumping platform,which is the first of its kind,” he observes.

For example, there are just two companies in the worldthat own crane or derrick barges large enough to hoistthe modules being built at the São Roque do Paraguaçu

PRA-1,the first repumping platform ever built for Petrobras,will con-tain accommodations for up to 90 people. Its operations will be com-pletely automated and it will be capable of pumping up to 650,000 bbl(barrels) of oil per day.The oil will come from five offshore platforms oper-ating in the Marlim and Roncador Basins,off the coast of Rio de JaneiroState.The main advantage of a repumping platform like PRA-1 is that itwill eventually reduce the risks involved in using tanker ships to trans-port oil from platforms to refineries.

Each module of the platform will be constructed and assembled onone of four stories in the construction yard in São Roque do Paraguaçu.Once completed, they will be transported to Rio de Janeiro,after whichthey will be conveyed to the site where the platform will operate in theCampos Basin,about 108 km from Odebrecht’s support base in Macaé.

The jacket – which is the base of the platform – is being built byanother contractor.It weighs 9,000 tonnes (metric tons) and will be trans-ported on a special barge to the spot where it will be installed at a waterdepth of 120 meters and fixed to the seabed with 14 leg piles.The instal-lation of the modules will be done offshore using a special crane or der-rick barge capable of lifting up to 14,000 tonnes.Each of the groups thecrane barge will lift for Module 12 will weigh 6,500 tonnes,and modules3 and 5 will weigh a total of 4,800 tonnes.These will be the heaviest loadsever lifted in an offshore operation in Brazil.

All told,the platform will comprise 5,500 tonnes of metal structuresand 2,500 tonnes of pipe systems.Valves weighing from 10 to 40 tonnesand measuring up to 5 meters in length will be installed in its pumpingand utilities units,and the internal and external piping will be 24 to 38inches in diameter.

Up to 650,000 barrels/day

In São Paulo, engineering, planning, procurement and logisticsmanagement: a new Brazilian hub specializing in offshore construction


Paulo Montanha, the project’s Administration andFinance Director, has been with Ultratec for 12 years.When he joined the management team as Ultratec’srepresentative in the joint venture led by Odebrecht,he discovered a new calling. “When we arrived in SãoRoque do Paraguaçu to plan the installation of the con-struction site’s facilities, I came across people who wereliving in extreme poverty but were full of hope and thedesire for a better life. This community has come to uswith many questions and a great deal of anxiety. AndI’vecome to realize that a great deal of quality liesbeneath the surface.”

Montanha had never worked with social programsbefore, but his gut feeling arose from his ability to dealwith people. “I was instantly in tune with the peoplefrom Odebrecht, Petrobras and community leaders.And I soon realized that the biggest challenge was treat-ing the local people with respect. They don’t want hand-outs. All they want is an opportunity,” he observes.According to Montanha, the strategy adopted was mak-ing an effort not to build an aggressive presence whilehelping the local people understand the benefits andlimitations that the project could bring about to ensurethat their expectations are realistic.

Mutual understanding based on respect

yard. Each crane barge costs up to USD 500,000 perday to operate, and the date of installation has to bescheduled well in advance.

René Mário Moynier and his team are tasked withplanning and controlling all the variables that can bedealt with in advance in order to minimize the possi-bility of any changes over the course of the project.René says that the entire planning process must becarried out in close cooperation with all the other man-agement areas. “Such complete control is not alwaysimmediately acceptable to everyone, so we have tak-en great pains to ensure that team members are accul-turated in a respectful but effective way.” Withouteveryone’s full commitment, it would have been impos-sible to produce the documentation for all the detailedengineering, step by step. “Documenting all proce-dures is essential for the production and sharing ofknowledge,” he observes.

René particularly enjoys teaching and makes apoint of always having a seasoned professional work-ing alongside beginners. “This integrated planningsystem has been a dream for me my entire career.Now that my dream is becoming a reality, I want tomake sure that the younger kids have an opportuni-ty to learn from it.”

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While the constructionyard was being restored, thevillage underwent a gradualtransformation. Maria Cremil-da da Cruz has watched ithappen first hand. She is oneof the seamstresses chosen totake part in a project that pro-vides support for the Charita-ble Community of São Roquedo Paraguaçu (COBEPA) andjoined a group that was hiredto make uniforms for the con-struction workers. “We havealready made 400 uniformsand we’ve received orders from subcontractors. This job ismaking our lives a lot easier,” she says.

The joint-venture contractors building PRA-1 havealso introduced a supplementary nutrition program forkids at the COBEPA day-care center, as well as flutelessons and handicraft and pottery classes and ongoingassistance for the children of traditional fishermen. Oppor-tunities for professional education have also been creat-ed for young people and adults – including 60 women –through a welding and boilermaking school associatedwith the “First Job” program.

The Housing Unit built for PRA-1 workers will accom-modate up to 1,200 people, and includes a multipurposeplaying court, an official soccer pitch, a movie theater, gamerooms and even Internet access at a library that is open tothe entire São Roque community. The area reserved fortechnicians and assistants, whose work is more sedentary,will be equipped with a gym.

A low-key program to pre-vent alcohol and drug abuseis being carried out under thedirection of specialists. Anadult literacy program is alsounder way, teaching twogroups of students and sup-plementing their lessons withcultural activities and debates.

The full scope of the pro-ject’s health, environmentaland quality of life programscan be seen in the construc-tion yard for PRA-1, includ-ing a digital x-ray unit that

makes it possible to get the results of physical examina-tions in 24 hours to speed up the hiring process. There isalso an advanced “life support” system available at theinfirmary. The system includes an ambulance equippedas a mobile intensive-care unit that can run on its own gen-erator for up to 8 hours, two paramedics on call around theclock, an emergency room equipped with a defibrillatorand a number of other facilities that workers can use insteadof having to be transferred to the National Health Service.

According to Cláudio Scarpa, the joint-venture con-tractor’s officer responsible for Safety, the Environment andHealth, the entire system has been planned on the basisof a study of the social and human impacts a project of thismagnitude could have on the local community. “We aregoing much further than complying with the law, our client’srequirements and certification standards. We want to ensurethe sustainability of this project, which can only be achievedby respecting people.”

Housing Unit for PRA-1 workers: accommodations for up to 1,200 people offer a multipurpose playing court,a movie theater and a library with Internet access

Seamstresses Maria Cremilda da Cruz (foreground) and Maria TerezaGomes: making uniforms for the workers


The advent of

REASONARTS AND CULTURE

WRITTEN BY Karolina Gutiez • PHOTOS BY Christian Cravo

Professor Luiz Alberto Freire of the UFBa Schoolof Fine Arts unveils Bahia’s collection

of Neoclassical decoration and wins the secondClarival do Prado Valladares Award

The second edition of the Clarival do Prado Valladares Award, intro-duced by the Odebrecht Group in 2003, will sponsor a book researchproject titled “Neoclassical Decoration in Bahia.” The author, LuizAlberto Freire, aims to shed light on an important chapter of Bahia’sart history: the artistic reform movement that took place through-

out most of the 19th century, replacing the Baroque.Eighteenth-century churches were elaborately and excessively adorned,

supported by twisted Solomonic columns representing infinity, and were charged

Luiz Freire: study includes 21 churches


with symbolism, expressed in bunch-es of grapes, large masks, birds andgrotesque figures – all designed toengage the worshippers’ feelings.

Neoclassicism was influenced bythe Enlightenment and the predomi-nance of reason over feeling, as wellas by the anthropocentrism practicedin 19th-century Europe. Excess wasreplaced by churches built with an artand architecture that was sober, calmand rational. Neoclassical artists turnedto ancient Greco-Roman traditions:columns became classical and verti-cally or horizontally ridged; symbolicreferences now referred to virtues suchas faith, hope, charity and fortitude;and polychromy and the excessive useof gilding were replaced with the bal-ance of light and white backgrounds.

“As a result, Roman Catholicismwas expressing its new mentality:instead of distracting the faithful withan overwhelming symbolic onslaught,its aim was to call attention to the basicmessage of Christianity. Therefore,churches had to be bright and airy toput worshipers in a frame of mind thatwas conducive to concentration andserenity,” explains the author, LuizFreire, a Professor at the Federal Uni-versity at Bahia (UFBa) School of FineArts who has a doctorate in Art His-tory from the University of Porto inPortugal.

The first known use of Neoclassi-cal decoration in Bahia dates back to1792, in the chapel of the SantíssimoSacramento (Holy Sacrament) Broth-erhood. In 1813, the Church of Nos-

so Senhor do Bonfim (Our Lord of theGood End, or Christ Crucified), theicon of the new esthetic, carried onwith the reform and unleashed a waveof church building and renovation inBahia that ended in 1888, when theChurch of the Third Order of SãoDomingos (St. Dominic), the last houseof worship to adopt this style,reopened.

Bahia has the largest and best col-lection of Neoclassical churches inBrazil, each containing elements thatare closely related to those producedin Italy and Portugal in terms of tech-nique and esthetics, while retainingtheir own characteristics.

Until now, however, the richnessof this period and the consistency andunique traits of the reform movement

Nosso Senhor do Bonfim Church: icon of a new esthetic


had never aroused theinterest of scholars as afield of research. Ac-cording to Luiz Freire,while he was research-ing the doctoral disser-tation that gave rise tothe book project nowbeing sponsored byOdebrecht, he did notfind a single specificpublication on the sub-ject. The only referencehe could find was a booktitled L'Architecture Re-ligieuse Baroque au Bre-sil (Baroque ReligiousArchitecture in Brazil) bythe French museum sci-entist Germain Bazin.Published in 1953, it con-tains just five pages on the Neoclas-sical style. “A movement that tookplace over the course of 100 yearsdeserves more attention than that.My book will discuss this subject inall the depth and breadth that itsimportance merits in order to fill thatgap,” says Luiz Freire.

According to Professor Freire, theBrazilian arts of the 17th and 18thcenturies were first studied in the1950s, when Europe and conse-quently Brazil gained an apprecia-tion of the Baroque period. “Every-

thing pertaining to Baroque art wasdeemed worthy of attention, partic-ularly here in Brazil, where it repre-sented our colonial past.” He attrib-utes the scarcity of studies on Neo-classical decoration to the fact thatthis style was considered responsiblefor the decline of the Baroque, andwas believed to have impoverishedthe artistic language of its predeces-sor, putting an end to richness andcreative diversity as a result of its sim-plicity. Freire disagrees: “That is nottrue at all. The same level of creativ-

ity was maintained inNeoclassical decoration,particularly in Bahia.”

Luiz Freire will provehis point when the bookis published. “When I waswriting my dissertation, Ihad more access to Por-tuguese archives. Now,thanks to Odebrecht’ssponsorship, I will be ableto intensify my researchof contemporary period-icals that contain infor-mation on the day-to-dayworkings of that move-ment, the identity of theartists who produced thecarvings, and stylistic andsymbolic issues and theirrelation to religious dis-

course.” The author, who has studied21 churches so far, intends to includeeven more in his research, going out-side the city of Salvador to analyzealtars in other parts of Bahia.

Luiz Freire believes that his workwill help to encourage Brazilian soci-ety and government agencies to paymore attention to this segment oftheir artistic heritage and give it thevalue it deserves, just in time to pre-serve it and put a stop to the processof deterioration that has alreadybegun.

The second edition of the Clarival do Prado Valladares Award

received 103 entries.The Odebrecht Cultural Committee select-

ed five finalists, and a distinguished panel of judges evaluated

those projects following presentations given by their authors.

They chose “Neoclassical Decoration in Bahia,” by Luiz Alberto

Freire.The judges included author Ana Maria Beluzzo,Professor

of Art History at the University of São Paulo School of Archi-

tecture and Urban Planning; historian Eduardo Silva, a Rui Bar-

bosa Foundation (RJ) scholar;artist and curator Emanoel Araújo;

historian Francisco Senna, a Professor at the Federal University

at Bahia (UFBa);and Gilberto Sá,a Member of the Board of Direc-

tors of Odebrecht S.A.and Chairman of the Pierre Verger Foun-

dation (BA).

Over 100 entries submitted

Neoclassical detail in Nossa Senhora da Vitória Church

The panel of judges: from left, Francisco Senna, Eduardo Silva, Ana MariaBeluzzo, Gilberto Sá and Emanoel Araújo

Pleased to meet you


Conceptually focusedon the production ofnew works in thefields of music, litera-ture, cinema and the

fine arts, the Braskem Culture andArts Award marked its 10th an-niversary in 2005 by introducingthe Brazilian public to the group ofbreakthrough musicians, artists,writers and filmmakers that wonthis year’s awards. There were eightwinners, all born or now living inBahia. The awards will launch theircareers by recording two CDs,mounting two exhibitions, publish-ing three books and producing ashort film. Expectations are that allof the winners’ works will have anationwide impact. They know that

most award winners have done soin the past.

The two exhibitions are SérieNômades (Nomads Series), byAndres Rubio, and Artista e o ouro(The artist and gold), by AlvaroMachado. Jurandir Santana andLuciano Bahia will respectivelyrecord the CDs Só Brasil (Just Bra-zil), and Luciano Salvador Bahia.Léo Araújo Martins will direct ashort film titled E aí, irmão? (What’sup, brother?). And the three booksthat will soon be arriving in thebookshops with the help of theJorge Amado House Foundationare Padecimentos completos (Fullsufferings), by Victor Pablo Jacobi-na Mesquita da Silveira, As casasonde eu morei (The houses where

I’ve lived), by Vanessa Buffone, andCanção inglesa (English song), byNormalice dos Santos Souza.

José Cerqueira, Braskem’s Insti-tutional Relations Manager inBahia, observes that the award pro-gram’s credibility is due to the lev-el of transparency and high stan-dards set by the panel of judges,which is made up of renowned spe-cialists from Salvador’s arts scene.Each year’s Braskem Culture andArts Award competition opens inMarch or April. Potential candidatesare recruited through news featuresand an advertising campaigninforming candidates where andhow to submit their entries. Oncethe deadline for submissions hasexpired, specific panels of judges

The Braskem Culture and Arts Award introduces Brazil to eight professionals in the fields of music, the fine arts, literature and cinema

WRITTEN BY Flávia Azevedo • PHOTOS BY Christian Cravo

From left, Álvaro Machado, Luciano Bahia, Jurandir Santana and Léo Martins: the award gives artists the opportunity to carry out their projects

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“The Braskem Award was very importantfor me. It enabled me to get my start with a‘pedigree.’When a publication results from anaward, your work already has a prestigiouslabel when it arrives in the market. My bookgot a warm reception from the literary insti-tutes and ended up being studied at two uni-versities. It’s a good book, but the award putit in the spotlight.”JEAN WILLYS, the winner in 2001 for hisbook Aflitos

“I’ve been a singer for 14 years, and for 8of those years I’ve been singing solo and try-ing to get a record deal.The Braskem Awardwas a watershed in my career.Without somekind of recognition, artists have no way ofshowing what they can do.The CD made iteasier to gain a foothold in the recording indus-try.Today the Braskem Award is the biggest inBahia. It creates a space for artists.”MARIENE DE CASTRO, the winner in 2004for her CD Abre Caminho

“The Braskem Award is the real deal – wehave to keep saying that. I don’t mind com-peting when the award is for real; when youknow you’re being judged solely on the basisof the quality of your work.”SARA VICTÓRIA,the winner in 2003 for herexhibition Vó Imbolá

formed for each area get to work toselect the winners.

The ceremonies held to launchthe winners’ work are major eventsin Salvador’s arts scene. They areeagerly awaited and the venues arealways packed. Each artist performsor presents his or her work to anaudience of 500 guests, includingcelebrities and personalities fromeach area of the award, critics, schol-ars, opinion shapers and journalists.It was at one such event that Ma-riene de Castro launched her CDAbre Caminho (Make way). Thesinger, who started her career 13years earlier, won the Braskem Cul-ture and Arts Award in 2004. Dur-ing a memorable evening at Gan-tois (one of the oldest traditional

African temples in Salvador) hervoice had an opportunity to ring outthroughout the country. Abre Cam-inho eventually won the 2005 TIMAward in the “Best Regional Al-bum” category – one of the topmusic awards in Brazil.

Artist Sara Victória is another win-ner whose career got an extra boostfrom the Braskem award. After gar-nering the prize in 2003, the artistexhibited her works at the PauloDarzé gallery, a prestigious venue inthe city of Salvador. Since then, shehas gone from success to success: oneof her many exhibitions was recent-ly mounted at the Post Office Cul-tural Center in Rio de Janeiro.

Another example is Jean Willys.Before he became a national ce-

lebrity for his participation in a TVprogram, the college professor,journalist and author published hisbook Aflitos (The afflicted) in 2001through the Braskem Award. Injust four months, it sold 1,500 co-pies. The Editora Globo publishinghouse recently released a secondedition.

“Braskem’s support for culturalexpressions is a facet of the com-pany’s Social Responsibility Pro-gram,” says José Cerqueira. “It isyet another example of how thecompany is demonstrating its com-mitment to the development of thecommunities in which it is presentby encouraging, valuing and rec-ognizing those communities’ tal-ents and cultural traditions.”

A word from past winners

Top photo: singer Mariene de Castro; above, artist Sara Victória , winners in 2004 and 2003:career boost


A cyclecloses anda marketopens

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The place is bustling with men andsmall boats. They started work atabout 10:00 pm the previous day,and went on through the night. Itwill only stop at daybreak. Near-

ly 5 tonnes (metric tons) of tilapia fish raised inpens are being unloaded at the modest mar-itime terminal of Torrinhas in the Cairu estu-ary. While sheltering themselves from scatteredshowers of cold rain, people put the fish in ice-filled barrels and then load boxes of fish into afreezer truck bound for the processing plant inthe city of Ilhéus. There is a mixture of exhaus-tion and joy on their faces. Soon, the fish willreach supermarket shelves in the city of Sal-vador, ending a cycle that began five monthsearlier. Many of these people are just here tohelp out while they wait for their own fish tobe ready for harvesting.

The men doing the fish farming in Torrin-has are members of the Mixed Cooperative ofSouthern Lowlands Shellfish Gatherers, Fish-ers and Aquafarmers (Coopemar). Their 60-member organization is the core of the Aqua-farming Production Chain, part of the Programfor the Integrated and Sustainable RegionalDevelopment of the Southern Bahia Lowlands(DIS – Southern Lowlands), which includes twomore production chains: Manioc (Cassava) andHearts of Palm.

Like the others, the Aquafarming Produc-tion Chain is a tool for breaking the viciouscycle of poverty in the Southern Lowlands ofthe northeast-Brazilian state of Bahia, a region

Through the DIS – Southern Lowlands program, Aquaculture, Manioc and Hearts-of-Palm production chains are carrying out the stages of production, processing and sales

WRITTEN BY Cláudio Lovato Filho PHOTOS BY Eduardo Moody

From top photo,manioc flour,tilapia fish and hearts of palm produced by programparticipants: sustainable development in Southern Bahia Lowlands communities.Opposite page,a fish farmer from the Torrinhas community takes part in the Cairu Estuary harvesting effort


that is home to 11 municipalities and270,000 people. Raising tilapia in pensis an alternative to extractive fishing,which can barely provide for a hand-to-mouth existence.

Twenty-two families are directlyinvolved in fish farming. They live inthe communities of Torrinhas, Cana-vieiras, Tapuias and Alves, in themunicipality of Cairu. The aim is togenerate a minimum monthly incomeof BRL 600 per family (at present, theminimum monthly wage in Brazil isBRL 300). The 5 tonnes of fish har-vested from the estuary on August 3and 4 will produce 1.5 tonnes of fil-leted fish that will be sold in the super-markets of the Wal-Mart group, asocial partner of the DIS – SouthernLowlands program.

Bruno Falcão, a Civil Engineerwho joined Construtora NorbertoOdebrecht seven years ago, took onthe challenge of becoming the leaderof the Aquafarming Production Chainin early 2005. “We are bringing an

entrepreneurial vision to this area.Our tools are education and the focuson results and sustainability.” Theprogram’s aims of producing workopportunities and sources of income,preserving the environment, bolster-ing family aquafarming and encour-aging cooperativism are graduallybeing achieved.

“Now we are working together,”says Community Technician FábioPereira Ribeiro Nepomuceno, 22, afounding member of Coopemar. “Weare getting used to the productiveprocess and building up know-how.One of these days I want to start myown business. Today we are think-ing about changing everyone’s livesfor the better.” Fábio wants to becomea Fishing Engineer.

“That’s their future: studying,acquiring knowledge, growing,” saysMarine Biologist Roque Fraga, thetechnical officer responsible for theAquafarming Production Chain.Roque is a role model in that com-

munity. He is so deeply involved inthe project that he decided to moveto Torrinhas, where he lives a fewmeters from the small terminal. Theresults of his teachings can be seenin the attitudes and language of thepeople who work with him on a dai-ly basis. “There’s less fishing goingon in the estuary. There used to beextractivism and nothing else. Todaythere’s extractivism and farming,”says Coopemar President LucianoFreitas.

MANIOC PRODUCTION CHAINUnlike the Aquafarming and

Hearts-of-Palm production chains,which have introduced new productsto the region, the Manioc (Cassava)Production Chain is enabling localcommunities reorganize productionof a traditional crop. The PresidenteTancredo Neves Rural Producers’Cooperative (Coopatan), which is run-ning the Manioc Production Chain, iscomprised of 500 people and 33 rur-


al associations, each with an averageof 35 members. The program bene-fits about 1,800 families living in eightmunicipalities. “In the past, there wereunsuccessful attempts to establishcooperatives in this area. Coopatanhas brought a new direction focusedon making the best use of land andreducing poverty,” says Josias Nunes,the cooperative’s president. “Theseare new times.”

Headed since early 2005 by JorgeGavino, an engineer who has beenwith Construtora Norberto Odebrechtfor 14 years, the Manioc Production

Chain is changing paradigms. “Weare working for the families with theaim of increasing their productivityand improving their quality of life,”says Jorge. “First, however, we hadto win their trust by presenting hardfacts and having the sensitivity torespect their culture.”

By providing follow-up and infor-mation, Coopatan has managed toincrease production levels in theregion. “In some cases, farmers haveincreased their productivity from 8 or9 tonnes per hectare to 25 tonnes perhectare. To start making a profit with

manioc, they have to grow over 20tonnes per hectare. We have tested119 varieties of manioc with the sup-port of Embrapa (a state-owned agri-cultural research company). We can’tafford to go wrong when these peo-ple have already suffered so much,”argues Marcelo Abrantes, an agri-cultural engineer. “What is going onhere is a change in people’s ways ofthinking, which is decisive for over-coming the idea that planting man-ioc is for poor people.”

Coopatan’s flourmill was up andrunning by the end of August.

Cairu

Valença

Camamu

Igrapiúna

Ituberá

Maraú

Ibirapitanga

Piraí doNorte

Nilo Peçanha

Taperoá

PresidenteTancredo

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SEPT/OCT • 2005

Installed in four-hectare area thatCoopatan acquired with OdebrechtFoundation funding, the mill canprocess 60 tonnes of manioc andproduce up to 20 tonnes of maniocflour per day. Farmer Genival Mene-ses de Melo runs the mill as theleader of the 40 people workingthere. “I’ve been working with man-ioc since I was a kid, and I love achallenge. This mill will make thingsbetter for everybody. It’s only a goodthing if it’s good for everyone,” saysGenival.

The result of a BRL 650,000 invest-ment, the Coopatan flourmill isequipped with advanced technolo-gies and will remove the mid-dleperson from the scene, becausethe processing stage is now an inte-gral part of production and sales.Coopatan’s manioc output is sold atsupermarkets owned by the Wal-Mart Group and Empresa Baiana deAlimentos – Ebal. The flour is mar-keted under five brands: Itabaina,Primeira da Bahia, A Boa, Recônca-vo and Farofinha da Bahia.

Farming Technician MarivaldoFerreira da Silva is a Tancredo Nevesfarmer who is being groomed to leadthe Manioc Production Chain. Hepoints out the main advantage of thechanging realities his region is expe-riencing: the possibility of keepingpeople in the countryside. “Life hereis changing.” Marivaldo symbolizesthe increased productivity in Tan-credo Neves: he has produced a land-mark harvest of 42 tonnes per hectareon his land, while the Brazilian aver-age is 18 to 20 tonnes/hectare.

Embrapa’s support has been animportant part of the Manioc Pro-duction Chain’s achievements.Researchers at its Technology DemoFarm for Manioc Growing are con-ducting studies for farmers, particu-larly assessing the productivity of dif-ferent varieties of the tuber. “This isan open-air laboratory,” says Jorge

In Cairu: Roque Fraga (seated),Fábio Nepomuceno and Bruno Falcão

In Igrapiúna: Francisco dos Santos,Adailton Barbosa and Emile Machado

In Tancredo Neves: from left,Marivaldo da Silva,Valdomiro dos Santos (back row),Idelfonso Roma,Francisco Souza,Marcelo Abrantes,Jorge Gavino,Genival de Melo and Josias Nunes

ODEBRECHT INFORMA 57


Gavino. Pedro Mattos andJosé Raimundo FerreiraFilho, researchers special-ized in planting crops, saythat the work they aredoing has enabled them tocollaborate with 32 com-munities. “We have donestudies using rapid propa-gation techniques and seedbanks,” says Pedro. “Theresults have been astound-ing,” he adds. JoséRaimundo observes, “We also givefarmers tips on soil use, slope con-tainment and pest prevention.”

HEARTS-OF-PALM PRODUCTION CHAIN

For the Hearts-of-Palm Produc-tion Chain, farmers have formed theCooperative of Southern LowlandsHearts-of-Palm Producers (Coo-palm). Its operations now include10 of the 11 municipalities in theregion, encouraging 105 families toproduce hearts of palm. Thirty-fiveof these families have joinedCoopalm. The remainder will be apart of the cooperative by the year’send. Most Coopalm farmers arelocated in the municipalities ofCamamu and Igrapiúna.

The Seedling Biofactory, whichis part of the chain of production,acquires thornless pupunha (peach-palm) seeds for the farmers’ use. Theproduction technology has been

imported from Ecuador, the world’sleading producer of cultivated heartsof palm. Compared with other palmtrees that produce hearts of palm(acai and jussara) pupunha oxidatesless and sprouts more often (ensur-ing that the business can go on allyear round), while delivering a fasterreturn on investment, among otherbenefits.

“Now we know how much wewill be earning,” says FranciscoRodrigues dos Santos, a member ofthe board of Coopalm and a localfarmer from the São Benedito com-munity in Nilo Peçanha. “I can usewhat I’ve learned through theHearts-of-Palm Production Chainand apply it to my other crops. It’sall written down in black and white.Now I can make plans.”

Agricultural Engineer AdailtonBarbosa, the technician responsiblefor this production chain, says thatfarmers are spending more time on

planning in order to get themost profitable yields. Notlong ago, that would havebeen unthinkable. “Todaythey are thinking aboutprofit margins and savingup money,” Adailton exults.“A change of mindsets istaking place, putting anend to individualism andimmediatism.”

Coopalm’s work isbased on providing techni-

cal and business education with afocus on results and continuousincome streams. “Local farmers arecoming to realize that the group’sresults impact their individualresults,” observes Social WorkerEmile Machado, a specialist in coop-erativism and the leader of theHearts-of-Palm Production Chain.“Entrepreneurial vision, technicalknowledge and cooperativist aware-ness are transforming their realities.”

The two essential tools that Emileand his team need to do their workare persistence, in order to breakdown people’s resistance to change,and creativity, in order to commu-nicate effectively. “We are trying tocontribute to people’s overall devel-opment. And we get involved withthem in the process. We all feel thatwe are doing something important– producing jobs and income. Wehave undertaken a commitment topeople.”

Coopalm, Coopatan and Coopemar products ready for market

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