Ould Kablia: “60 thousand new housing units will be distributed before the start of holy month of Ramadhan”

Interior and Local Assemblies Minister, Dahou Ould Kablia, has announced that 60 thousand newly-built housing units will be distributed before the start of the holy month of fasting of Ramadhan slated for early August of this year.

• Taking the floor during a broad-based meeting Wednesday in Algiers with the country’s Walis or Governors, Mr Ould Kablia urged them to ensure the follow-up and smooth running of the distribution of the new homes in all fairness and transparency in line with the firm instructions issued recently by the head of state Mr Abdellaziz Bouteflika.
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• Concurrently, the housing and urban development Minister, Noureddine Moussa, also confirmed the upcoming delivery of 60 thousand new housing units to the recipients concerned as part of the government’s endeavour to eradicate precarious and flimsy dwellings.
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• The Minister further indicated that a total of 150 thousand newly- built trading stands would also be distributed to jobless youth in the coming weeks in various parts of the country as part of the authorities’ fight to curb the scourge of unemployment notably among the young sections of the Algerian population.
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• It should be noted that an ambitious and complex programme to build two million new homes is well underway in Algeria, where housing problems are very keenly felt, particularly in the more disadvantaged sectors of society, as shown by recent protests in the country – some of them leading to violent clashes repressed by police forces – staged by citizens hit by demolition measures as a result of administrative irregularities or those demanding lasting solutions to precarious housing situations.
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• Building two million council homes is not only an economic effort (the extent of which has not yet been clarified), but also involves long and complicated administrative, financial and bureaucratic action.

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• The first step is to identify the areas in which the new homes will be built.

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• This is the responsibility of the Housing Minister, who has already identified 14,400 hectares across the country that will be the site of the future residential building projects.

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• Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Noureddine Moussa, admits that the construction of two million homes requires serious planning. As a result, he says, his Ministry will present an initial report to the government in June, while the detection of land considered appropriate for the building of the new housing complexes will continue until the end of the year and will be the subject of at least three further reports.
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• The identification of suitable land, however, appears to be complicated, particularly in major cities such as the capital Algiers, where a number of projects have been shelved due to a lack of available space. During a meeting with officials, public construction and urban planning sectors, Noureddine Moussa said that the design work should be aimed at improving the quality of the buildings themselves.

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• With the target fixed at two million new homes, thousands of projects will need to be assessed and launched to meet the “hunger” for homes that is being felt in Algeria‘s provinces.

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• Such a complicated plan will require the strengthening of workforce numbers and a rise in their quality, particularly in technical terms, with workers asked to oversee the scheme through to the end and help to reduce its timeframe. Around 3,500 new jobs will be created, which the minister says will be the result of a search for “quality personnel to supervise this most ambitious action-program”.

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