Issue nº 142
Editorial
Dear reader,
Complexo do Alemão is a complex of low-income communities in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. There is not enough space on this page to list all the problems its residents face on a daily basis. Day after day, Brazilian newspapers, TV stations and other media outlets provide a detailed chronicle of life in places like Alemão. PAC Favelas, a Federal slum development program carried out through the Ministry of Cities and the Caixa Econômica Federal savings bank, in partnership with the State of Rio de Janeiro, got started in March 2008. Since then, approximately BRL 1 million have been invested in the Rocinha and Pavão-Pavãozinho shantytowns in the southern part of the city, as well as in Manguinhos and Complexo do Alemão in northern Rio. This investment is making it possible to carry out social programs and build infrastructure facilities in these communities. But even more important, it is giving their residents a real chance to become first-class citizens. Many of them had forgotten it was even possible.
Odebrecht is proud to be participating in PAC Favelas, at the head of the Better Rio joint venture. Its teams are building housing units, schools, hospitals and playing courts, while improving water and sewer systems and public lighting, and building and widening roads. Once again, the company is doing its bit so that Rio, one of Brazil’s most beloved cities, can overcome the challenges it faces. Odebrecht’s ties with that city go back a long way. The company helped build Rio’s international airport, headquarters buildings for Petrobras and the BNDES, the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UEFJ), the Rio Sul office/mall complex and, most recently, João Havelange Olympic Stadium, as well as refurbishing Maracanã Stadium. Odebrecht’s teams are helping build a happier and less unequal city – a Rio that belongs to all its residents, no matter where they live.
This issue of Odebrecht Informa also features two “comebacks” for the Group. One of them is in Mozambique. After building a highway in that country in 1996, the company has returned to help build a coal mine for CVRD. This is an important project for Mozambique’s growth. The other comeback has to do with the road concessions sector in Brazil, which Odebrecht had left in 2003. Through the Rota das Bandeiras concessionaire, the company is taking on the mission of managing one of the country’s most important road systems: the D. Pedro I Corridor in the Campinas region of São Paulo State.
ETH Bioenergy has begun a new sugar cane harvest and is working decisively to equip its teams with the skills they need to increase mechanized farming. Meanwhile, Braskem has reached record-breaking levels of PVC production. Much more than just being a source of satisfaction for the people directly responsible for these feats, the company’s PVC output is impacting the public’s daily life by providing more comfort and safety. In Maceió, a day-care center and nursery school built from PVC Concrete shows that improved chemical and petrochemical processes can put a beautiful smile on a child’s face.
And that is just what we want. More and more, it is impossible to disassociate the work of businesses from people’s daily lives. At the 4th World Economic Forum on Latin America in Rio de Janeiro, Marcelo Odebrecht, the President and CEO of Odebrecht S.A., emphasized that corporate social responsibility programs and partnerships with governments are key to overcoming the turbulence currently affecting the global economy. For him, social inclusion must be viewed as a means of reestablishing confidence in growth and development. “We have a unique opportunity to bring about reform,” he said. Through the work of its teams, to its utmost capacity Odebrecht is seeking to do just that. From Rio de Janeiro to Maputo – and wherever else the Group is present.