Former Minister of Mines and Energy sees no risk of rationing.

Danilo Macedo
Reporter from Agência Brasil

Brasilia - Minister of Mines and Energy between 1999 and 2001, the year in which there was energy rationing in the country, Rodolpho Tourinho said today (11) that it is not possible to compare the current situation of the Brazilian electrical system with that of 12 years ago. According to him, the capacity for thermoelectric energy generation today is much greater, around 14 thousand megawatts.

He doesn't believe there's a risk of rationing. "What's being looked at is the reservoir level, when what needs to be looked at is the reservoir level and the thermal generation capacity," said Tourinho. He is the president of the National Union of Heavy Industry and spoke after meeting for about two hours with President Dilma Rousseff at the Planalto Palace.

"What happened in 2001 is that there was no thermal power generation, and it wasn't possible to implement an emergency program, which, incidentally, should have been done years before 2001. It's those thermal power plants that were planned (during the FHC administration) and others during the Lula administration that have led to this situation of having 14 megawatts of thermal power generation," said Tourinho.

According to the former minister, the issues discussed today with the president were the need to expand private financing and the qualification of personnel. He said that the country has never had such a large volume of ongoing and planned infrastructure projects. Hence, the participation of private financing in infrastructure is important to complement the work of the BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank).

Regarding workforce training, he said it's a commitment the construction industry has made to the government, and it will be expanded this year. "The heavy construction sector has a very large number of projects, operates at almost full employment, and under these conditions we need to train these people."

Rodolpho Tourinho said he trusts the path the country is following and that the private sector has a crucial role in the country's infrastructure improvement programs. "The role of the private sector today is perhaps more important than it has been until now." According to him, the programs are government programs, but the greater responsibility lies with the private sector. "That's why it must be aligned with this entire large infrastructure investment program that is being carried out," said the former minister.