The new R$1 billion plant will serve clients in sectors of strategic importance to the country's development, such as home building, basic sanitation and infrastructure.Braskem, the largest petrochemical producer in the Americas and the world's leading biopolymer producer, inaugurated today its new PVC plant in Marechal Deodoro, Alagoas, with the ceremony attended by the president of the republic, Dilma Rousseff, and the governor of Alagoas, Teotonio Vilela Filho.
The investment of R$1 billion is the largest ever made for a single project since the company's founding ten years ago. With annual production capacity of 200 ktons, it is the largest PVC plant in Latin America.
The new unit makes Alagoas the largest PVC-producing state in the country and reinforces Braskem's commitment to its clients and to the development of the state's chemicals and plastics chain. The plant complements the approximately 60 companies installed in the complex, which generates some 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.
PVC resin is a raw material consumed primarily in basic sanitation and infrastructure projects, and is used to make tubing, fittings, doors, windows, window frames and roofing tiles, as well as other products. The resin also has uses in toys, footwear, furniture and medical products, and in the automotive and food industries.
"The inauguration of this unit is fundamental for meeting demand from our Clients throughout Brazil operating in strategic sectors of the economy, such home building, sanitation and infrastructure. With this new plant, we reaffirm our commitment to the development of both the state of Alagoas and Brazil," said Carlos Fadigas, Braskem's CEO.
The plant took 2 years to build and consumed 30,000 cubic meters of concrete, 3,000 tons of tubing and around 800 kilometers of cabling. During the more intense phase, some 3,500 people worked on the construction project, most of whom were local residents living in the city of Marechal Deodoro.
To meet the challenge of training workers for the plant's construction, the contractor Construtora Odebrecht, which was responsible for the project, set up the Acreditar Program, a training program it has developed. The program offered 11 courses in the areas of Civil Construction and Electromechanical Assembly, which prepared local residents to work as ironworkers, boiler technicians, carpenters, power and control electricians, electrical assemblers, industrial plumbers, mechanical fitters and mechanical assemblers. Over 1,200 people applied for the program, more than 700 were trained and approximately 400 were hired to work on the project.
"In addition to its increasingly stronger and more dynamic domestic market, Brazil is a country that is rich in natural resources, such as oil, natural gas and biomass. Braskem's objective is to invest in projects that ensure these resources are used by Brazilian manufacturers to serve our domestic market," said Fadigas.
