Alexandre Rocha*
alexandre.rocha@anba.com.br
São Paulo – Brazilian organization Amitech, a pipe industry that belongs to Saudi group Amiantit, won a tender promoted by the government of Ceará to supply 19 kilometres of pipe for the Integration Canal, the largest water distribution centre ever built in the state. The value of the contract is US$ 10.7 million, according to information disclosed to ANBA yesterday (27) by Amitech president Roberto Roselli.
According to him, this is the greatest glass reinforced polyester pipe (PRFV) supply contract closed by the company in Brazil. The company is going to deliver the pipes over the next 12 months. "There are other companies that produce this kind of material. However, they are not focussed on the sanitation sector, but in industrial applications," he declared.
The company was established in 2000 and was named G-Tec, which changed to Amitech in 2002, when the Saudi group took over the administration. According to information supplied by the company, the group participated in the tender in Cerá competing against suppliers of steel and iron pipes who offered bids of 36 million Brazilian reais and 50 million reais respectively (US$ 18.5 million and US$ 25.6 million at current exchange rates).
Initially the product will be supplied by Amitech Spain, which disputed the tender in a consortium with the Brazilian sister company. "One of the demands in the call to tender was the presentation of a notification of prior supply, which we did no have, but Amitech Spain did, and within the diameters and lengths required," stated Roselli. He pointed out, however, that the leadership in the consortium is by Amitech Brazil.
Apart from that, for the time being the Brazilian branch only has a capacity for production of pipes between 400 and 1,200 millimetres, whereas the diameter required varies from 1,400 to 1,500 millimetres. The company, however, as informed by ANBA in March, is investing US$ 9 million in a new production line that will permit the production of pipes with a diameter from 300 to 3,000 millimetres.
To Roselli, operation in the Integration Canal is going to open doors for other large scale engineering works. "Engineers are generally conservative, wanting proven solutions that are working. With this supply, we will have a case to show that our product works," he said. The contract was signed on May 29th, but announced by the company this week.
The canal
When ready, Integration Canal will have a length of 255 kilometres. It was developed to increase the water supply to the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, the state capital, and to Pecém port and industrial complex, as well as for irrigation of farmland.
According to the government of Ceará, the first phase of the project, with a length of 55 kilometres, has already been completed, the second and third phases, which together total 112.2 kilometres, are being executed, and the others are still to be started.
Amitech is eyeing the Brazilian potential in the area of public works, especially after the approval of the Sanitation Law, which grants security to private investment in the sector, and after the release of the Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC), promoted by the Brazilian government, which forecasts a series of projects in the infrastructure sector.
Based in Ipeúna, in the interior of the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo, Amitech produces 120 kilometres of PRFV per year and employs 85 people. The new production line will have a capacity to produce over 180 kilometres a year and, when it starts operating, should increase the number of employees to 110.
Saudi Amiantit was established in 1968 and is currently a multinational. The group has 34 factories, some that it owns and some in joint ventures with other companies, in 18 countries. The organization uses 14 different technologies for the production of pipes and has clients in 70 countries.
Contact
Amitech
Tel: (+55 19) 3576-6000
Commercial manager: Luciana Paulo
Site: www.amitech.com.br
*Translated by Mark Ament
