Shady transaction surrounds power plant building

Investigators from the national gendarmerie of the province of Blida, 40 KMS west of Algiers, have opened an inquiry over an illegal transaction concerning the building of an electricity plant in the locality of Larbaa, worth $ 700 million.

• The inquiry was ordered by the public prosecutor following intelligence gathered by the elements of the financial brigade over various irregularities surrounding the project granted to an Italian company specialized in the sector of energy, for the building 560 megawatts power plant.
• Sources have revealed that the power plant of Larbaa counts among six others including those erected in the provinces of M’Sila, Annaba, Ghilizane, Batna and the port of Algiers as part of the national electricity emergency plan costing the Italian company some $ 2 billion.
• Though designed for covering the growing demand of energy , those power plants whose total capacity is estimated at 2000 megawatts were exploited at 25% of their capacities.
• This scandal echoes the one revealed by Echourouk previously concerning the power plant of “Hadjr Ennas” that cost the public treasury $ 670 million.