Ghoul: “Enough of political outbidding about issue of the opening of national air, sea transport”

The Transport Minister, Amar Ghoul, has affirmed that the lifting of the freeze on the exploitation of the national air and sea transport is within the prerogatives of the Government alone, while calling for a cessation of the lingering political one-upmanship in this file stoked by some political circles for murky reasons, as he put it.

With regard to opening of the direct air line between Algiers and New York announced previously, the Transport Minister noted that US officials have conditioned the entry by Algeria into the «open sky” system, stressing that this US-proposed option does not satisfy Algeria at the present time, adding that Algeria has put forth to the US side the conclusion of a bilateral agreement instead and the issue is still on the backburner, Amar Ghoul underscored.

The opening of air and sea transport to the national private investment is meant to increase the Algerian shares in the market, but it will not be at the expense of the public sector, Amar Ghoul stressed.

“The opening of air and sea transport to national private operators is meant to intelligently reduce the share of foreign companies in the Algerian market,” the minister told the Moudjahid press forum in Algiers on Tuesday.

Mr Ghoul, who noted that the current situation “works in the favour of foreign operators,” said the project was submitted to the government, which is the only entitled to decide on this issue. He added the investment will be mapped out under a strict book of specifications.

The share of foreign operators in the national market for air transport around is estimated at nearly 50%, while 97% for the maritime sector, added Ghoul.

He said that the specifications book will consider both air and maritime safety standards and economic and logistical investment.

This book of specifications will also focus on the complementarity between the public and private sector and strengthening these two sectors by skillful human resources, he added.