Presence at jobsites
Norberto 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 Chairman of Odebrecht S.A. and President of the Board of Trustees of the Odebrecht Foundation, paid a visit in August to the sites where the Carrizal-Chone System is being built in Ecuador and a bridge is being erected across the Orinoco River in Venezuela. He had a first-hand look at the progress of these two projects, listened to reports about them, and talked to young company members. He was particularly interested in learning about the social impacts of these ventures.

Pedro Novis, President and CEO of Odebrecht S.A., and José Augusto Mendes, the company’s officer Responsible for Organization and People, accompanied Norberto Odebrecht during his visits to these two countries. Representing Construtora Norberto Odebrecht S.A. were its CEO, Marcelo Odebrecht, and Carlos Hupsel, the CNO officer responsible for Planning and Development.

On August 9, Norberto Odebrecht visited the site where the Carrizal-Chone System is under construction in the western Ecuadorian province of Manabí. The project will solve the problem of water shortages during the dry seasons and prevent flooding in wintertime. The system includes a network of channels that are being built under the leadership of Contract Director Ricardo Boleira. Fernando Reis, Odebrecht’s Managing Director for Ecuador, gave a talk on the company’s operations in that country, which also include the construction of the San Francisco Hydroelectric Project under the responsibility of Contract Director José Conceição Santos.

Norberto Odebrecht arrived in Venezuela the following day. In Puerto Ordaz, he visited the bridge construction site on the Orinoco. While there, he heard presentations by Managing Director Euzenando Azevedo and Contract Director Estevão Timponi, Antonio Carlos Daiha Blando, Marcelo Colavolpe and Ivan Joventino, who are respectively responsible for four different projects underway in that country: the bridge, the Caracas Metro, Los Teques Metro and the El Diluvio-Palmar Irrigation Project.

During dinner on both evenings of his two-day trip, Norberto Odebrecht paid special attention to the young Odebrecht members working in the two countries. He spoke to them about his professional experiences, discussed philosophical aspects of Odebrecht’s operations, and asked them for details about the projects’ socioeconomic benefits. At Carrizal-Chone, Odebrecht is helping the client, Corporación Reguladora del Manejo Hídrico de Manabí (CRM), develop programs aimed at ensuring the sustainability of projects being carried out there. Norberto Odebrecht also talked to local farmers to find out what their lives are like today, and what they are doing to prepare for the new realities ahead of them.