Brazil's Odebrecht Developing Major Project Contract Base in Africa

---

Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In Tanzania, Odebrecht Company (Salvador da Bahia), which is Brazil's major energy engineering, petrochemical and infrastructure conglomerate, has been assessing the viability of a proposed hydropower project in Stiegler's Gorge in the Rufiji River basin. When built, the project would have the potential to produce 2,100 megawatts (MW).

Odebrecht, which employs 130,000 people globally, is building a growing project profile in Africa. It is the largest construction company in the country and controls Braskem, the largest petrochemical company. Tanzania is in the east-central region of the continent.

The director general of the Rufiji Basin Development Authority (Rubada), Aloyce Masanja, reported that a group of Odebrecht experts visited Tanzania in August and concluded that it was a viable project that posed no implementation problems.

The Rubada board accepted the report and will proceed with the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Brazilian company. In a reciprocal visit, Tanzanian Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda recently led a team of Rubada experts and government officials to Brazil to be briefed on Odebrecht's experience in hydropower projects.

The project could provide the basis for a lasting solution to the country's power shortage. If the construction goes to schedule, the first electricity could be produced by 2015.

In Angola, Odebrecht Angola is working on the construction of the country's first bioenergy plant with Sociedade Nacional de Petroleos de Angola (Sonangol) and Damer Industria (Angola). The company is an agro-industrial unit of Biocom, a joint venture formed by the three companies. During the first phase of operations, the plant at Cacuso, which is 350 kilometers from the capital Luanda, should process 2 million tons of sugarcane per harvest. Spread over 30,000 hectares of land, the sugarcane will produce 260,000 tons of sugar, 30,000 cubic meters of ethanol, and 45 MW of electrical power.

The project will give hydrocarbon- and resource-rich Angola self-sufficiency in sugar. In the medium term, the Biocom project will allow the country to export sugar and biofuel. The plant is scheduled to begin operations in 2012.

Odebrecht also has worked on airport development and enhancement projects in Angola. In Mozambique, it began work in March 2010 on a $111 million contract to develop the international civil airport in Nampula province, using the existing Nacala air base. This project should be completed in the first half of 2012.

Also in Mozambique, Odebrecht has a contract from Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) to implement all aspects of the Moatize coal mine. The scope of the contract covers the entire infrastructure construction with roads, civil engineering and execution of a mineral coal treatment plant. The mine's main output will be coking coal for steelmakers.

View Project Report - 200000782 84500031

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.