Marco Siqueira, Business Leader LN of OEC, was the guest on a Politics and Economy live streaming by Jornal Correio

CORREIO – August 28, 2020

Marco Siqueira: “Odebrecht will take up its role again

OEC President talks about the company’s reorganization process after Car-Wash operation

Odebrecht will hold an important role again, as it has always played in the Brazilian civil construction segment and the country’s development. This is guaranteed by architect Marco Siqueira, the new President of OEC – Odebrecht Engenharia e Construção. He believes that a program to encourage investments in infrastructure can help the country overcome more quickly the crisis caused by the new coronavirus pandemic.

“We went through a very traumatic process in the infrastructure sector. When we mention China’s situation, for example, their companies have their own production chain and financing capacity”, he says, pointing out that Brazilian companies have difficulties in this sense nowadays. He was the guest of the CORREIO’s Instagram live streaming on Politics & Economy (@correio24horas) hosted by journalist Donaldson Gomes.

“You see, in this government, the funding that was done through the Bndes (National Bank of Economic and Social Development)…for reasons I’m not going to discuss here, but also for ideological reasons, was put as something out of the equation, and then we stopped exporting services“, he says.

Marco Siqueira remembers that the process does not only comprise the work itself, and he remembers that OEC was once the largest exporter of boots in Brazil. “When you think of the production chain of this equipment and the service itself is very extensive,” he says. He recalls that Bndes is currently working to provide guarantees and no longer funding, and he considers is a valid strategy. “We need to act with the existing tools, but competition wins with that whole package, especially when we talk about what China has been doing in Brazil and Latin America,” he says.

The president of OEC believes that a “new normality” in the Brazilian infrastructure market will be created with time. “Within this period that has passed, which will be recorded as an important period, we will reestablish our capacity. There is a structural change in the world”, he believes.

When he was asked about the Salvador-Itaparica Bridge project, bid of which was won by a Chinese consortium, Siqueira said he would like to see Odebrecht ahead of the work, but he stressed out the expectation of seeing the company performing other great works in the future. “I wanted to be doing it, but there are conditions we can’t ignore. It is an ambitious project, and there is the financial conditions, cargo transport. I’m not going to lament for what I’m not doing. In Bahia, there are countless opportunities,” he said. “We can see Salvador’s recovery, there is a lot to do, we will look towards the future. You can bet that Odebrecht will be more present from now on, and on several fronts”, he promised.

Today, after more than three years of restructuring, Marco Siqueira says the company already sees the reflexes of the restructuring process, which was initiated after the Odebrecht Group’s decision to collaborate with the investigations of Car-Wash Operation.

“When we look at the future environment, I see Odebrecht very strong and OEC pulling that line, because the country’s need to invest in infrastructure matches this moment. Everything is totally in line,” he believes

Today OEC has a little over 13,000 employees, including direct and indirect workers. “It could be more, one of our characteristics is positivity, and we are going to work for more projects and generate create jobs, specially in the resumption after the pandemic,” he believes.

Currently, OEC has 25 projects in progress, half in Brazil and half abroad. “Today the billing is well divided, both in projects and billing between Brazil and abroad,” he says. The performance is concentrated in both traditional segments, like roads, ports, bridges, but also in a kind of engineering that generates many jobs, which is the performance in industrial maintenance.

In addition, there are projects on the horizon in the area of sanitation, driven by the new sector framework, but also irrigation projects, such as the Baixo Irecê project. “Irrigation projects feed very important chains, because agribusiness comes in, it stimulates exports and has an economic multiplication capacity that is very interesting”, he highlights.

Among the segments that OEC intends to intensify is wind power. Marcos Siqueira highlighted the potential for clean energy production in Bahia. “There is great potential in regions far from the capital that we will pursue, he says.

He also mentions works related to “traditional infrastructure”, such as roads and bridges, as well as industrial services related to the oil and gas area. “We are seeing the process of privatization of refineries and that is going to demand a lot in the industrial assembly area, which is an area we are very strong,” he says.

For Marco Siqueira, investments in infrastructure are the best way to recover the Brazilian economy at this time, besides helping to improve the conditions of economic activity in Brazil. “Infrastructure is what we need to improve our conditions as a country. Agribusiness needs it, our cities need it, transport modes need to improve. The health area needs that.

“Our mission is to seek more projects, more works and create more and more jobs,” he says.

“First, we went to the market to get reference professionals in the area of governance controls, compliance”, he says. He recalls that, culturally, the company had a decentralized management and no central governance, just “a communication system that consolidated these projects.” “We had to learn”, he recalls.

He recalls that Odebrecht followed more than a hundred recommendations for changes ranging from how to contract to establishing a single supplier base. Many of these changes were suggested by foreign and Brazilian authorities. “In all that was done, there has been a concentration of efforts, and a very large investment by the company in this process, and now we are beginning to see a return from all this”, he points out.

“In recent processes, when we had conversations with investors or even banks, and they get the complete vision of our program, it is very clear the robustness of this process and how true and transformative it is. This has already positioned us very positively,” he says.

According to him, since June, the company has closed three new contracts and, in all of them, an important part is the demonstration of the governance program.

Marco Siqueira says that there is a widespread effort in the construction sector to act correctly. “There is an awareness in the market that the right action brings more efficiency and more productivity. I think good governance is friends with productivity and it will never go out of style in the business world”, he says.

The change in the name of the traditional Construtora Norberto Odebrecht happened as part of the restructuring process of the company since 2016. “There was a concentration of efforts to embrace a broad governance project that everyone embraced, he says. “One of the aspects was the brand issue and the way it is presented and traded,” he said, adding that this matter was more of a brand composition.

Before, there was a unified brand vision among the companies of the group, he recalls. Then, they went for a more individual view. “For the engineering and construction market, we chose OEC, which has Odebrecht’s cognomen,” he explained.

The president of OEC believes that little by little the news involving the company with corruption will be left behind. “As new projects come in, we are changing the agenda. It may come back, but always as facts that belong to the past. The company is investing in a restructuring process and will make Brazil very proud”, he believes.

Public investment

For Marco Siqueira, Brazil needs both public and private investments to develop the infrastructure sector. He mentions as a positive example the business environment that must be created by the new sanitation legal framework. “It’s important because it opens for private investments, without closing the doors for public funds. I think we need both of them, and there is nothing antagonistic about it”, he says.

“The size of Brazil and the dimensions of its demands are so great that there is room for everyone. There are many subgroups within the sanitation reality, for example, to be served. There are small towns that need to create consortiums, there are metropolitan regions that need other kind of solutions. There are industrial districts that demand specific solutions”, he lists.

For Siqueira, the most positive thing about the sanitation discussion is that it can encourage a “reurbanization” process of the country. “You can imagine coming to a community and saying, let’s bring sanitation, water and treated sewage, but we know there is a lot more to do, like opening new roads, regularizing properties. There is a hard work to be done that can be driven by this agenda”, he highlights.

Marco Siqueira considers that the most important measures to be taken for the recovery of the Brazilian economy goes through job creation. “It is important that the labor market recovers, even for the relief in the public accounts. This extension of the emergency aid was important,” he says.

Link to the report https://www.correio24horas.com.br/noticia/nid/marco-siqueira-a-odebrecht-voltara-a-occar-o-your-paper/