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Brazilian construction company Norberto Odebrecht has won a tender, as part of an international consortium, to build a new airport in Tripoli. The group also includes companies Tepe Akfen, from Turkey, and Consolidated Contractors Company, from Lebanon. The Brazilian company has already worked on constructions in at least five Arab countries.
Isaura Daniel* isaura.daniel@anba.com.br Săo Paulo – Brazilian construction company Norberto Odebrecht is one of the organisations to build the new Tripoli international airport, in Libya. The company won a foreign tender as part of a consortium that also includes the Turkish Tepe Akfen (TAV), and Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), from Lebanon. This information was disclosed by newspaper Turkish Daily News and confirmed by the Brazilian ambassador in Libya, Luciano Ozório Rosa, in an interview to ANBA. The result was announced little over one month ago by the government of Libya. According to the Turkish newspaper, the value of the contract is US$ 3 billion. The three companies are going to build, according to Turkish Daily News a 350,000 square metre terminal with capacity to receive 20 million passengers a year and a parking lot with a capacity for 4,400 vehicles. According to news published in the regional press, six companies are going to participate in works for construction of the airport and the project supervision will be in charge of a French company. The airport will have a runway capable of managing 100 aircraft at the same time. The enterprise should be ready in two years. According to ambassador Ozório, this is the first infrastructure work by a Brazilian company in Libya. Norberto Odebrecht, according to the ambassador, is the leader in the consortium for construction of the airport. The Brazilian company, said the ambassador, has also won a tender to build a ring road around Tripoli. The value of the contract is US$ 400 million, added Ozório. The construction of the ring road was one of the themes discussed by executives at the construction company when they participated in a delegation accompanying Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the Arab country, at the end of 2003. At the time, Odebrecht had recently become a candidate for the project. According to ambassador Ozório, both Odebrecht contracts in Libya, the one for the highway and the one for the airport, total around US$ 1 billion. Odebrecht is starting its activities in the African country, but the company has already worked on several constructions in Arab nations. Last year, the company won a tender to build a runway at Abu Dhabi airport, delivered a land terminal for satellite signal reception and transfer at a United States military base in Kuwait and also won a contract for construction of a container terminal in Djibouti. In 2005, the company completed a port terminal in Djibouti and redid gas turbines at a thermoelectric power plant in Iraq. In 2004, the company completed three electric energy transmission lines in Iraq. Norberto Odebrecht belongs to Odebrecht group and was established in 1944 to operate in the area of engineering and construction. According to a company report for 2006, it is present in 19 countries and was considered the best Brazilian company in the construction sector by North American magazine Global Finance. Last year, the company had gross revenues of US$ 7.4 billion and an order backlog of US$ 15.16 billion. Of the total company revenues, US$ 2.5 came from works in Brazil, US$ 2.8 billion from constructions in other countries in South and Central America, US$ 1 billion from Africa, US$ 652 million from Europe, US$ 321 million from the United States and US$ 23 million from the Middle East and Asia. Last year, the company won a series of contracts abroad. Among them one in Mexico for the construction of a dam, a hydroagriculture project in the Dominican Republic, for construction of an aqueduct, one in Panama, for the construction of a highway, one in Ecuador, for a dam. In Peru, Odebrecht was chosen to build a port, among other works. In Venezuela, the company is in charge of a hydroelectric power dam; in Angola it is building a highway and also sanitation networks for part of the country capital, Luanda. The company has a series of works in progress in Angola. Partners The Norberto Odebrecht partners in the consortium to build the airport in Libya are from Turkey and Lebanon. The Lebanese Consolidated Contractors Company is based in Beirut and was established in 1952 by three young Arab entrepreneurs. Two of them, Hassib Sabbagh and Said Khoury, still head the company. CCC has constructions in its homeland and abroad, including bridges in Botswana, highways in Nigeria and residential and business projects and petrochemical companies in the Emirates. According to newspaper Turkish Daily News, CCC is the second largest construction company in the Middle East. The Turkish Tepe Akfen was established in 2003. Since then, the company has already built a total area of 1.7 million square metres and has had revenues of US$ 1.8 billion. TAV is currently building an airport terminal in Tunisia with a capacity for seven million passengers a year. The company is headquartered in Istanbul, but also has offices in Cairo, Doha and Dubai. The organisation's constructions are in the Emirates, Egypt, Georgia, Qatar and Tunisia. The company belongs to a holding company that goes by the same name, TAV, which has been in existence for ten years. |
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