Algeria: Foreign Embassies On The Move To “Grab” Car-Assembling Factories

The past few hours have witnessed a marathon race by the owners of the files of the factories for the assembling of new cars, which exceed seventy in all, and the latter files were all transferred to the Prime Minister’s office for a selective endorsement of these incoming projects in Algeria pending the issuing of the official list of final licenses, which are divided between the factories of cars and trucks.

The release of this car manufacturers’ final roster is expected in the coming hours.

To this effect, the French Ambassador Mr. Xavier Driencourt posted in Algiers, asked during his working visit to the Renault factory in Oran last week, for more facilities to invest in the Peugeot plant project, which is expected to be  contained in the official roster, as it was already included in the preliminarily list issued in mid-December. 

This vehicle-assembling factory project  is expected to contribute to the employment of a large number of Algerians exceeding the two thousand with on focus a high integration rate of up to 35 percent, in addition to the transfer of experience and technological know-how, which corresponds to what is defined in the relevant book of specifications.

For his part, a member of the National Association of Car Dealers, and its former President, Mr. Mohamed Bairi, and the current owner of the Ival trucks factory located in eastern Bouira province, confirmed in an interview with “Echorouk” on Wednesday that they were informed that the list of vying owners of car factories is almost ready and that it will be released any time soon, adding that they have not received anything official on the question for the moment. “

“We have learned that some dealers, not more than three, will be listed among the cars and trucks manufacturers,” Mr. Bairi added.

This comes at a time when the representative of the automaker “Kia” based in Algeria Mr. Abdelhamid Achaibou woefully deplored his brand’s exclusion from the relevant list, despite duly depositing the required investment file during the era of former Industry Minister, Abdeslem Bouchouareb, as he described himself as “dean of car dealers in Algeria and the oldest,”  stressing that his submitted file fulfilled, according to him,  all conditions set by the Government as a priority so as to  be able to secure from the latter the proper license to invest in this thriving sector of activity.