The Algiers Metro: light at the end of the tunnel

03/08/2007

More than 30 years after its conception, excavation on the first line of the Algiers Metro is complete. German company Dywidag, that has overseen construction since 2003, jubilantly announced their success to Algiers residents who had long ago given up on the project.

Text and photos by Nazim Fethi for Magharebia in Algiers – 03/08/2007

Algeria embarked on its grand metro project in the mid-1970s

It was with enormous pride that Daniel Fauquemberque, Regional Director of German firm Dywidag, overseers of the construction of the Algiers Metro, announced on July 7th that excavation of tunnels for the first line was complete. Construction on extensions has already begun, and although many Algiers residents had given up long ago, Algeria's slowest-moving project is now well on its way to completion.

Algeria embarked on its grand metro project in the mid-1970s, during "the age of grandiose projects, the time of triumphant socialism", recalls Ahmed Chaoui, one of the Metro's pioneers, who retired well before the project's completion. At the time, the population of Algiers was one million and the need to provide modern public transport services was already apparent. Work on the project officially began in 1983, but a fall in oil prices from 30 dollars per barrel to 15 put a stop to the project in 1986.

The project recommenced in the 1990s and was handed over to two state-owned companies – COSIDER, charged with digging the tunnels, and GENISIDER, which was to build the metro stations. The two companies had no experience in constructing metro systems and work dragged on so long that their own employees felt there was no end in sight. This sentiment was reinforced by a government decision in 1994 to ban the use of explosives in excavating the tunnels, due both to the country's dire security situation and to the dilapidation of certain buildings located above the future tunnels.

Mohamed Toumi, a topographic engineer, has spent his entire career on the Metro project. Since graduating from university in 1984, he has never managed to escape "the hole", as he calls it. "When I get the chance to take some holiday leave and I see people living normal lives, I realise that I've lost 23 years of my life in a hole," he says bitterly.

Currently, tracks are being laid, electrical and signalling equipment is being installed

Initially, the metro was planned to extend over a distance of 64 kilometres. The excavation completed in July is for only one line running nine kilometres. Current plans call for the extension of the metro's reach to 54 kilometers. Project leaders estimate that construction might require an additional 20 years.

It took an intervention by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2003 for the project to truly get underway. Speaking to transport sector officials, he reportedly said "I can't wait ten years. Either I decide to get the Metro built, or I don't, and we shut up shop." The government subsequently injected 400m euros into finishing the work.

The project was then awarded to German group Dywidag, which worked alongside COSIDER and INFRAFER to bring the project to fruition. The work sped up appreciably, and in less than three years the whole Metro route had been dug out.

Toumi, who joined the German workers alongside a number of Algerian engineers, cannot hide his admiration not only for the Germans' technical mastery but also their iron will. "I understood why it had taken us a ridiculous amount of time to create just a few hundred metres of tunnels once the Germans had arrived. We're not on top of the technology, and in particular we don’t have the material resources or workplace organisation."

With the Germans, Toumi often worked a twelve-hour day. He was better paid than when he was with the Algerian company, but he lost some of the perks. "No more days off for family reasons, no more long weekends, and no more days going round in circles."

Meanwhile, the project's neighbours suffered great inconvenience.

"I had to close my business down for fifteen years. The road was closed, and no customers could get to me," says Salim Tarzi, who runs a chemist's shop near the Grande Poste in Algiers.

Nabila Salmane, who lives in the Meissonnier district, said "for ten years, it was a living nightmare. On top of the problems of noise from lorries and excavating equipment, there was dust and mud. To add to this, there was the sight of that gaping hole which haunted me every morning."

Project leaders estimate that construction might require an additional 20 years

Taxi driver Rachid Bourenan, recognises that the Metro's opening will be synonymous with lost customers. "You know, a taxi in Algiers is like a little bus. Everyone uses it. With the Metro's opening, we're going to lose customers, but we'll finally be able to work under better conditions, with less crowded streets and vehicles not wearing out so quickly."

Currently, tracks are being laid, electrical and signalling equipment is being installed, and the Metro's future management is taking shape. The three major companies involved in the project – Vinci (rails), Siemens (signalling) and CAF (rolling stock) – are each moving forward to honour their commitments. The French public transportation authority (RATP) has been selected to help run and maintain the system, which is scheduled to go online in the summer of 2008.

Although the Metro has received first priority, Algiers has undertaken several other major public transportation projects, including the renovation of the city's streetcars and the development of a tramway system which will feed into the metro. CEO Philippe Mellier of French group Alstrom, which is leading the tramway project, said the transport sector in Algeria is "a promising market calculated to be worth ten billion euros," the equivalent to all ongoing projects in South America.

Today, more than three million people live in the Algerian capital. An additional five million commuters come into the city each day from outlying towns. Average demand for Metro transport is forecasted to be 21,000 passengers per hour during peak times. This figure is expected to grow to 40,000 passengers per hour in the long term. Traffic is predicted to eventually reach 150 million passengers per year.