Representatives of three of the subcontractors hired by the Odebrecht construction company came to the defense of the Brazilian company saying that it had provided a new vitality to smaller, local construction companies. In spite of the admission by the company that they had paid US$92 million in bribes in order to obtain contracts in some 17 projects signed with the Dominican government between 2001 and 2014 and the fact that 14 former officials and legislators have been indicted on bribery charges for having received these bribes, the representatives of smaller construction companies argued for the continued operation of Odebrecht in the Dominican Republic.
The owners of these small local construction companies insist that Odebrecht be allowed to continue to operate since these small businesses benefited more from Odebrecht’s capacity to manage large construction projects while providing important sub-contract work for smaller firms. Jose Olivo, a spokesperson for these small businesses told reporters from the Diario Libre that with Odebrecht the construction sector has been well served by the quality of the construction of the projects as well is the participation of local companies (especially smaller companies) that have had the opportunity to work in these megaprojects.
José Olivo went on to say that there were some 450 sub-contractors for Odebrecht. He noted: “We trust Odebrecht more, they share out the cake more evenly…. Because here (in the DR) the medium-sized company, the big company, the little company and everyone has had the assurance that in 30 or 40 days they will receive a payment from Odebrecht.”
Another owner of a construction company, Geraldo Mendez, says that apart from the fact that the bribery, Odebrecht is the “ only entity in the sector that while being a huge company with large equipment, issued tenders to other companies at the national level, which is something, he says, the big Dominican companies do not do, regrettably.” He explained big Dominican construction companies are all-inclusive, contrary to Odebrecht that subcontracted smaller companies.
The spokespersons representing the small companies said they worked for Odebrecht in projects such as the Cibao- Sur Highway, the Autovia del Este and the highways to Constanza and Jarabacoa. One of the engineers said that “we grew from 40 employees to 150, and now we have about 110 employees.”
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Diario Libre
6 July 2017
