National Investment Council gave permission to complete ten new investment projects for national and foreign companies including a project to build a factory for the Egyptian iron group El Iz in the area of Ballara in addition to tourism and other big service projects.According to a release issued by the council which was chaired by the Prime Minister, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, these ten projects have been authenticated out of 11,497 investment files deposited in the National Agency for Investment Development since 2007. It is a double number compared to the registered one in 2006. The general amount of those investments is valued at 932 billion dinars. That would create more than 157 jobs.

Building the iron and steel factory in Ballara( in Jijel province eastern Algeria) by the Egyptian group comes at the head of these projects in terms of importance. Its value in its first phase is approximately 700 million dollars with 1,200 job opportunities creation as well as steel production capacity of 1.5 million tons per year intended to the industrial and construction sectors inside and outside Algeria. This factory which will enter into service after two years will ease the pressure of demands on “Hajar” factory in “Anaba” province ( east of Algeria), which returned after it’s privatization to Indian operator Metal Steel.

El Izz’s project was included in Egyptian Investment Minister’s agenda on his recent visit to Algeria. The investment council agreed on the construction project of an Ammoniac and urea factory in Oran province (west of Algeria) in partnership with Sonatrach in addition to expand pipe production units. The council also approved two agreements offered by the National Agency of Investment Development relating to the achievement of two water desalination plants in Fouka, Tipaza province and Hanine Sea in Tlemcen province. The government gave the go-ahead to build an electrical unit in Batioua, Oran province by the shareholder company Tossiali Iron Steel.

As for investing in the service sector, the council has approved the creation and management of a wholesale market by Dahmani EURL, in Awlad Moussa ( Boumerdes province) along with the establishment of 5 commercial centers in Algeria and a big commercial centers network on the national level by  Ardis.