BRAZIL – In an exclusive interview with CNC, Paulo Fernando Goetze, Goetze Lobato Engenharia Ltda (Gel Engenharia), talks about the company, its works, its solutions, the market and its next steps.
CNC – How many years has Gel been on the market?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – It was founded in 1983 and had its headquarters moved to Curitiba in 1991. Since then it has participated in the construction market of public and private works, adding more than 25 years of experience.
CNC – What are the specialties of Gel?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – Over the years the company has specialized in projects and execution of basic sanitation works, becoming one of the Brazilian companies with greater expertise in the sector. In addition to sanitation, the company also works in the construction of gas pipelines, oil refineries, wind farms, road works, ports, housing, buildings, hospitals, irrigation and industrial facilities. The company has a shareholding in a highway concessionaire (Caminhos do Paraná), a renewable energy generator (CER), an ethanol and sugar production plant (Bevap) and an industrial plant for PRFV (Petrofisa).
CNC – What outstanding work do you currently do?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – We are working for Sanepar, with asset leasing preceded by the execution of sanitary sewage works for the municipalities of Matinhos and Pontal do Paraná, in the state of Paraná. The work includes 514 km of collecting network, interceptors, 29 sewage stations and their lines of repression and 25,900 home connections. The estimated investment is R$ 252 million.
CNC – What is the current stage?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – The work is in physical and financial advance of 50% and is expected to be completed by December 2018.
CNC – What were the differentials in this work?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – Gel Engenharia acted through SLP, a related company, in obtaining the financial resources in development banks and will be reimbursed through the lease of the constructed assets, the VML (Monthly Lease Value) established in the public bidding. The VML will be paid by Sanepar for a period of 20 years from the delivery of each of the 4 contractual milestones. The first was delivered in December 2016, the second will be completed in August 2017, the third in March 2018 and the fourth until December 2018. It is much simpler to sell dwellings and other types of real estate when there are property sellers on the market. They take care of the necessary paperwork for the sale and offer free evaluations to potential homeowners. Visit https://www.cash-buyers.net/georgia/cash-buyers-for-houses-monroe-ga/.
CNC – Is the work on schedule?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – This is a highlight, the deadline for the work. It was contractually planned for 48 months, but we anticipate anticipation for 34 months.
CNC – Have alternative construction processes been used to reduce the deadline?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – Yes, one of them was the solution of shoring and containment of excavation slopes for the implantation of the elevation stations in stapled soils, which made possible the reduction of execution times, as well as considerably improve the safety of workers in activities up to eight meters deep . Another solution was the use of rotomolded wells in HDPE, which contributed to the increase in the speed of execution of the collecting networks. It also reduced the infiltration of groundwater in the sewage collection network, compared to the solution of wells traditionally used in the market in concrete staves seated artisanal with internal finishes in mortar.
CNC – And other processes more?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – A execução de ponteiras tipo “well points” de rebaixamento de lençol freático, tanto nas redes coletoras como nas escavações das elevatórias, em que foram utilizados até 3 níveis de rebaixamentos. E também a utilização de blindados, ao invés dos escoramentos tradicionais das valas das redes coletoras, possibilitando mais agilidade na execução das redes.
CNC – Os benefícios da obra podem ser expressos em números?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – The Matinhos and Pontal do Paraná bathhouses, summer residences of many Paraná, will benefit from a significant increase in the percentage of domestic sewage collected and treated. Matinhos will have 85% of the households with domestic sewage collected and treated, and Pontal do Paraná, 75%. This will undoubtedly improve the sanitary and health conditions of the permanent population of the municipalities (33,024 in Matinhos and 24,878 in Pontal), and will improve the bathing conditions of its beaches. It is expected that with the adhesion of the users to the collection network to be implanted with the project, the beaches are among the cleanest and most suitable for bathing in the country.
CNC – Que pontos fortes ou importantes de gestão podem ser destacados?
Paulo Fernando Goetze -We have invested heavily in the development of management tools and corporate governance. In recent years we have hired PMTG, a company specializing in consulting in construction companies and modernizing the management structure. The PMTG developed for several months a training program for all company managers based in the works or in the head office.
CNC -What are the objectives of this program?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – The individual training of professionals, identifying their profiles and enabling greater use in their functions. The program offers lectures and group dynamics, with the objective of integrating and potentiating the teams, introducing the concept of complementarity and the importance of collective work. We also reviewed the processes, highlighting the disclosure of the company’s new policy and values, and its organizational architecture. We prepared manuals that reviewed the scopes of performance of the company’s key positions. At the same time, we selected a group of young engineers who underwent specific training and development for over a year.
CNC – How has the company strengthened in the market?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – For various actions. We create a project department within the company, which allows for complete synergy between projects and execution in case of turn key contracts. We also set up a department for contractual management, planning and cost controls. We have contracted the RM operating system to integrate the company’s management systems. We are the company Petrofisa, which manufactures GRP pipes and offers an alternative to water pipes and sewage. For works in non-destructive methods we acquire suitable equipment: GBM (Guided Burning Machine) hydraulic excavators. All aiming to optimize costs, quality and deadlines of contracted works.
CNC – Is today? And the future of the company and the works in the country?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – Obviously the public works market is undergoing a severe recession, caused by the economic crisis, political and institutional crises with impeachment, changes in Brazil’s political command and the strong impacts of the Lava Jato operation. Our company has undergone ascending and strengthening processes over several years of economic growth, with strong progress in the construction of infrastructure works in the country. Gel Engenharia opts at this moment to open new markets, in order to reach the goals set for annual turnover and growth.
CNC – What is the current target?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – We are betting on the resumption of growth and we want to participate in the construction of industrial plants of various segments. We have experience in the execution of several works, such as industrial buildings, industrial waste treatment plants, water reuse plants and even turn key plants. We want to invest our experiences in port works, for having executed works on dockable Danish type piers, pierced piers, access bridges, deepening drafts, dredging, retroport works, pavements, among others. We also want to participate in bidding events related to private TUPs, the Port Utility Terminals. We have done many housing units for the low-income population in the past, and we want to participate again in the Minha Casa, Minha Vida Program, especially in the 1.5 program range of CEF. We intend to use new construction technologies in order to achieve better results.
CNC – Are other sectors of the economy in the plans?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – The Agribusiness. We intend to participate with clients, especially cooperatives, to build horizontal and vertical bulk warehouses, irrigation projects, small hydroelectric plants, industry-oriented industries, in order to meet the demands of this segment that has been growing in the country.
CNC – Think of alternative business models?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – We intend to enter into structured business of public concessions, PPPs and asset leases, taking advantage of Gel’s experience in the administration of toll roads, wind and hydroelectric power generation, asset leasing projects in sanitation works, BOTs of treatment and operation and maintenance of sewage treatment plants. Apparently, these could be the outputs for the advancement of Brazil’s infrastructure.
CNC- Is Gel aimed at the external market?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – Gel has invested heavily in its internationalization, with participation in public bids for basic sanitation works in Argentina, Panama and Paraguay. We are studying our participation in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the Dominican Republic, that is, countries that have presented programs for the implementation of basic sanitation works and rely on financial resources from international development banks.
CNC – To conclude … And the question of ethics?
Paulo Fernando Goetze – It is part of Gel’s organizational culture that ethical behavior standards are demanded and in accordance with the law, regarding the way in which its employees deal with others in the professional context, how they do business with clients and suppliers, and how they behave in the development of the activities that GEL proposes. Gel maintains the Compliance Program, whose rules are clearly defined in our Manual of Ethics and Compliance – Anticorruption Rules, which guides our professionals as to how they work with third parties, so that, in addition to complying with legal requirements, they represent the consolidation of the parameters and ethical standards of transparency and efficiency of the company. This is of fundamental importance for the maintenance of the principles that guide its activities, as well as for the public image and the ability to do business with responsibility.
Fonte: CNC –