Issue nº136
Editorial
Dear reader,
Inaugurated in April, the Paulínia Unit will enable Braskem to add 350,000 tonnes (metric tons) to its annual polypropylene output. This is a particularly significant milestone, not only for the company but for the entire plastics supply chain. The subject of the cover story in this issue of Odebrecht Informa magazine, this plant went online as a result of just one in a series of investments that Odebrecht has made in the productive sector of the economy. It exemplifies how the Group applies one of the most deep-rooted principles of its entrepreneurial philosophy: reinvesting results.
Odebrecht is increasingly intensifying its efforts to bolster the infrastructure of Brazil and the other countries in which it is present. The Group has been doing that in Portugal for exactly 20 years, ever since it acquired Bento Pedroso Construções (BPC), a renowned and respected contracting firm. Also featured in this issue, BPC’s two decades as a Group subsidiary are the result of a strong convergence of beliefs and values that are the hallmark of a relationship that has already given Portugal over 500 km of road concessions and major projects like the Vasco da Gama Bridge, the second span across the River Tagus in Lisbon.
Odebrecht is also making significant investments in the Sugar & Ethanol business: over USD 5 billion in 11 factories in the Brazilian states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul and São Paulo. All of them will be up and running by 2012, ready to make ethanol from sugar cane and generate energy. ETH Bioenergy’s action plans and programs for this industry are also spotlighted in this issue of Odebrecht Informa.
In addition to investing in its own businesses, Odebrecht is taking part in its clients’ productive projects. In Argentina, a partnership that has also produced results like the Pichi Picún Leufú (PPL), in the Patagonia region, is moving forward through another major undertaking – installing a system of pipelines to transport natural gas, the most widely used fuel in Argentina, which will run from north to south through most of the country. This project is crucial to preventing shortfalls in the Argentine energy supply.
Back in Brazil, Odebrecht is making further contributions: building the Abreu e Lima oil refinery for Petrobras in the northeastern Port of Suape, Pernambuco, and the Anta/Simplício hydropower complex for Furnas Centrais Elétricas, on the state line of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, which will meet the energy needs of millions of people. Above all, these projects demonstrate the Group’s firm conviction that investing in production is the only way to ensure real and enduring growth.