Despite the logistical drama, the
plant was “built in record time.” And
Multiner is currently preparing to
upgrade the facility to 135 megawatts
and to convert its fuel source to natural gas this year.
The company also acquired several
other energy development projects
throughout the country as part of Brazil’s
Programa Aceleracao do Crescimento,
the government’s four-year, €190 billion
economic growth plan. The lineup
includes wind farms and additional
thermoelectric power plants.
As Multiner looks toward the
future in completing these and other
is aimed at addressing the need for
greater grid accessibility and improved
logistics.
“We know we will face these challenges, and we work closely with the
engineers, vendors and construction
companies to deal with them,” Mr.
Treiger says.
And despite the economic crisis,
he is confident infrastructure projects
will continue to receive support.
“Infrastructure projects are long-term and the focus internationally is
to improve infrastructure,” Mr.
Treiger says. “That won’t change in
the short term. It may slow down
Up to US$30 trillion
The amount governments
around the world are
expected to pump into
infrastructure investment
over the next two decades
mega-infrastructure projects across
Brazil, Mr. Treiger says the biggest
challenges remain on the ground.
That’s where project teams need to
manage the transportation and assembly issues of all the units, some of
which are in not-so-convenient
remote areas.
“They will deal with that by
identifying risks up front and solving
[problems] before construction commences,” he says.
For example, a Multiner project
team recently made the decision to
move the construction site of two
thermoelectric power plants closer to
existing power substations. The move
some schedules but [infrastructure
projects] aren’t going away.”
Mr. Chai agrees. “Infrastructure
projects are a good way to get the
economy going,” he says. “They keep
people employed and money is spread
across the supply chain.”
And even as the economy continues
to crumble, he hasn’t seen significant
impact to infrastructure development
in his region.
“Funding for projects is still coming so there is not a lot to panic
about,” Mr. Chai says. “In fact, we
have so much work there are not
enough project managers to handle
it all.” PM
