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Algeria: Transport Sector on the Right Track

Monday, 07 March 2011 16:01

transports_Algrie_Algeria_Transport_train

The Algerian transport sector is picking up speed, with a host of forthcoming urban tram and metro projects set to help alleviate traffic in cities, alongside significant new investments in airport infrastructure and aircraft that aim to improve access to the country’s more remote areas. Road transport, particularly private cars and taxis, has long been the dominant form of passenger transport in both urban and rural parts of Algeria. With an ever-growing number of cars on the road –car imports rose by 3% in 2010 to 285,000 – traffic has become a problem in many areas, especially in and around Algiers. However, with several tram and metro projects scheduled for completion in 2011, traffic on the capital’s roads may well ease in the near future, generating a host of positive knock-on effects for the local economy, Global Arab Network reports according to OBG.

Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia announced in November last year that the long-delayed, 20-km Algiers metro line is expected to open in 2011, though a firm date has not been set. Some observers have expressed skepticism given previous delays, arguing that the project has been in the pipeline since the 1980s. The transport minister, Amar Tou, said that construction of the metro was effectively suspended until 2003, but that it will be completed within its budget of AD90bn (€885m).

The first part of the Algiers tram system is also due to open in April, following the announcement in late 2010 by French company Alstom that construction of the section was complete. The 8.7-km stretch of line will run between the Cinq Maisons and Bordj El Kiffan areas in the east of the city. The contract for the tram system was awarded in 2006 to a consortium comprising France’s Alstom, Italy’s Todini and Algerian firm ETRHB in 2006 at a cost of around €365m. When completed, the entire network will feature 23 km of track and 38 stations.

Work has also begun on the installation of tram lines in the country’s second-largest city, Oran, in the west – where 7 km of track had been laid as of November last year – and in the eastern city of Constantine. In February Entreprise du Métro d’Alger (EMA) launched a tender for a feasibility study of a potential extension of the Constantine line to the nearby town of Ali Medjeli. Studies are also under way for tram lines in 14 other cities, including Jijel and Skida, as part of the €231bn 2010-14 five-year investment plan announced in May last year, which includes €30.6bn for transport infrastructure. In line with this, the government has launched tenders for studies of tram projects in Annaba and Sétif.

Keen to develop local industry, the government has worked to ensure that as many of the components of new public transport infrastructure as possible are made in Algeria. In keeping with this policy, in November last year Alstom, Algerian state-run company Ferrovial and EMA signed an agreement to establish a joint venture for the maintenance of tram tracks and the assembly of tram and rail locomotive engines and carriages. Alstom is taking a 49% share in the venture, while Ferrovial and EMA are holding stakes of 41% and 10% respectively. The companies are collectively investing AD2.1bn (€21m) of capital in the joint venture, which will be based at a factory belonging to Ferrovial in the eastern city of Annaba. Operations are due to commence in 2013.

The air transport sector is also seeing significant new investment. Local press reported in February that, as part of the five-year plan, the government will invest AD40bn (€394m) in improving airport infrastructure and upgrading technology. The money will be spent on around 30 projects, including reinforcing the surface of the main runway at Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers and extending the runway at Sétif airport by 500 metres. The investment will also see the construction of 24 heliports around the country.

Also in February, state-owned Air Algérie announced plans to spend €510m on modernising and expanding its current fleet of 42 aircraft. The investment will include the acquisition of five large, 250-seat aircraft that will replace three Boeing 767s currently in use, expanding its long-haul fleet. The investment plan will also see the company buy four 70-seat aircraft to be used on domestic flights with a view to improving access to southern desert regions, and 11 150-seat aircraft. The firm, which intends to increase annual passenger numbers from 2008’s 3.2m to 6m by 2014, is also expecting delivery of four Boeing 737s, which were purchased as part of a previous fleet expansion, during the course of 2011.

With more planes in the skies and trams and metro cars on the rails, the government hopes to keep Algeria moving, with a host of benefits expected from the state-backed infrastructure investment programme, ranging from quicker travel times and less-congested roads to improved access to rural areas and easier commutes for urban workers

Global Arab Network

This article is published in partnership with Oxford Business Group

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Last Updated on Monday, 07 March 2011 16:16

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