Ahmed Ouyahia Freezes The List Of Ten Dealerships For Car Installation

Government postponed the implementation of the content of the instruction, which restricted the activity of the installation of cars in 10 dealers, as the Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia, blocked the first instruction, and ordered not to apply it until the 31st of January 2018, to finalize the list of dealers, after a number of dealers complained, including dealers who started the installation, as is the case with Kia Motors.

Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia, retreated and moved on the basis of the echo and controversy that are raised by the instruction regarding the granting of exclusivity to only 10 traders, without taking into consideration the items that are included in the new book of conditions, which formed the content of a recently amended executive decree, which led to the publication of a new directive No. 411 that was issued on December,25, 2018, and took this instruction to the Finance, Industry and Mining Minister, Yousef Yousfi, and the Trade Minister, Mohamed Ben Meradi, and the General Manager of the National Agency for Developing Investment NADI, saying: “In response to the request of the Industry and Mines Ministry, and with the ultimate installation of data for the file of activity for the production and installation of vehicles, I have the honor to inform you that the application of the instructions that are issued by correspondence that was issued on December, 14, it was postponed until January,31, 2018.

Ouyahia statement comes amid information that is circulating within the Ministry of Industry, indicating that the content of the first and exclusive instruction that granted licences for five dealers in the field of installing cars and 5 other operators in the field of installation of heavy weight vehicles, is a clear violation of the content of the new book of conditions, including the percentage of integration, and the capacity of installation of these factories and others.

The argument that was raised by the instruction is not left at the level of car agencies or owners of files, but beyond the walls of the Ministry of Industry and exceeded the service in question and arrived at the minister’s office, where he received appeals from the owners of some deposited files, especially, which began the installation, as it is for the factory installation of the South Korean mark “Kia”, or even the owners of the file of the establishment of a factory to install the Japanese brand “Toyota”, as the instruction raised large questions about the economic indicators and factors that were adopted and weighted applications at the expense of other applications.

The new directive comes to reduce the controversy that is surrounding the government’s restriction of vehicle installation to 10 operators, including 5 for tourist cars and 5 for utility vehicles, but at the same time it shows a lack of decision making, especially in the sector, and even criticism from inside the same government, as evidenced by the statements of the former Industry Minister, Abdessalam Bouchouareb, and the former Trade Minister, his colleague, Bakhti Belayeb, and even the statements of their successor in the government of Tebboun.

It is known that the first instruction dated on December 14, and issued by Ouyahia a few days before the statements that were made on the sidelines of the National Production Salon, which was considered by all a sign for the closure of the area of ​​cars installation, was announced by the government for the benefit of 5 agents or dealers for the installation of light cars are SOVAC for the installation of Volkswagen, Seat and Skoda cars, Tahkout for the installation of Hundai cars, Renault for the installation of Renault Dacia cars, and Peugeot and Nissan, as Sovac is proposing the production of 100,000 cars a year, and 100,000 cars by Hyundai will be produced annually by the Tahkout plant, and Renault’s production capacity in Oran is estimated at 75,000 cars a year, 100,000 for Peugeot and 60,000 for Nissan. 

The Government’s submission of expected statistical estimates was noted in view of the fact that a number of projects that were adopted had not yet been launched on the ground and were expected to be launched by the beginning of 2019.

Will Ouyahia’s freezing of the decision that is contained in his instructions be temporary as indicated? What are the real reasons behind the decision? Will the list really know the process of expansion as is being discussed at the Industry Ministry?