Chinese companies more competitive than Algerian ones: minister says

In a brief interview to “ Echourouk” the Algerian water resources minister, Abdelmalek Sellal laid down details about his personal intervention before the cabinet with the view to speed up the process for the launch of the big water project in the Algerian desert, saying that the Chinese get the biggest part of it in comparison to the Algerian “Cosider” because of the tight deadline.

• You faced a lot of hurdles during the realization of the 6 water stations that caused a delay of a year due to the opposition expressed by the national deals committee which refused to grant the project to the Chinese company due to the absence of a bank guarantee, how did you settle the matter?
•  After another bid for tender, the Chinese company presented a Chinese bank guarantee worth $3 millions but the Algerian bank did it five days after. That was the main cause behind the denial of the national committee.
• The Chinese get the lion’s share in the project if compared to the Algerian “Cosider”, is it related to the Chinese know how or Cosider’s bid was not satisfactory?
•  Because we wanted to avoid delays, we decided to divide this project over a Group comprising 7 companies (foreign and national ones) instead of a ingle giant company, and were forced to make a balance between them. The three Chinese companies’ bid was 30% lower than the others.
• Concerning the second deal, as regards the pipes, Cosider won the middle part but the third part was given to the Chinese company because of some difficulties on the terrain.
• Another Chinese company get the sixth part of the project in relation to water collection and pumping to the towers.