Symbol of Algerian industry, Algiers industrial zone turned to ruins
The industrial zone of “Al Harrach”, Algiers suburbs, stretches kilometres long nearby a road swamped by waters and mud leaving behind crumbled and deserted facilities turning what once was considered as the jewel of the Algerian industry for three decades, to a ghost town.
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We tried to visit all the factories inside the industrial zone, but couldn’t do it because the latest rainfalls have cut off access to the area and the car couldn’t proceed. We tried to go on foot but one of the employees of a Lebanese electric cables company dissuaded us from doing it fearing for our lives against any form of aggression.
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The old man has told us that he was lucky because the new Lebanese owners didn’t fire him after taking over the former Algerian company. We are just wardens working for a private company in charge of guarding a huge building that still bears a sign dating back to the 1980s that reads” National Company of Household Electrical Appliances”.
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A huge blue gate that once was the main entrance of the Algerian company of batteries
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“ Sonelec”, stood alone ravaged time. The company that stopped all activities in 2006, was supplying the Algerian market for three decades with all types of batteries and employed some 500 people.
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The warden has told us that one of the investors has transformed the facility into a shed for famous European cars.
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The local inhabitants have indicated that the industrial zone was the hub of the Algerian industry in the past to an extent that it was very hard to pass by because of the traffic jam. But now people avoid passing by this desolated area fearing for their lives.
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The golden age of the 1970s and 1980s is over and the men in blue that symbolized the Algerian industry are part of a nice dream that the Algerian authorities consider a nightmare.
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