North Africa Construction: Algeria

In January the International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed its growth forecasts for Algeria for the two-year period 2016- 2017 and predicted a fresh acceleration in 2021. The country’s GDP grew by 3.6% in 2016 and further 2.9% growth is forecast in 2017 (+3.4% in 2021).

As for the construction sector, the Algerian government is attempting to make up for the severe shortage of affordable housing in urban areas by stepping up its economic efforts. In particular, the construction of more than 1.6 million housing units by 2019 is a major focus of the 2015-2019 five-year plan.

Despite the economic difficulties caused by the sharp drop in oil prices, the residential sector has continued to grow at a rapid pace and has maintained the planned rate of handover of projects in 2016. Last November the housing project budget totalled 426 billion Algerian dinars (3.6 billion euros), half of which was allocated to social housing. Minister of Housing, Urban Planning and the City Abdelmadjid Tebboune has pledged to make up the shortfall in affordable housing by 2018. According to figures published by the Ministry, a total of 75,646 social housing units were delivered in the first nine months of 2016, with a total of 100,000 units expected to be reached by the end of the year. The 2016 plan includes a total of 300,000 housing units (all categories).

One of the largest infrastructure works is Algeria’s large commercial port in El Hamdania, about 80 kilometres west of Algiers, work on which began last March. The project, valued at US $3.3 billion, will be carried out through a public-private partnership between Algeria’s ports authority and a couple of Chinese companies. 

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