Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
In 2012, the Export-Import Bank of China provided a loan in support of the Ministry of Housing of Algeria's 10,000 Housing Units Project. Further loan details are unknown. The loan proceeds were used to support a commercial contract awarded to China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) for the construction of 10,000 housing units in the city of Sidi Abdallah in the Algiers Province. The owner of the housing units was Algeria's Agence Nationale de l’Amélioration et du Développement du Logement (AADL). The 10,000 housing units were spread over an area of 109 hectares. The total area of construction was one million square meters. CSCEC's Algerian subsidiary, CSCEC Algeria, was the contractor responsible for project implementation. The project entered implementation in November 2014. It had a construction period of 28 months. It passed preliminary inspection in December 2017, and then went into a one-year maintenance period, which involved unspecified Algerian subcontractors and Chinese companies. The project passed final inspection in February 2019, marking its completion.
Staff comments
The Chinese project title is 阿尔及利亚住房部10000套RHP住房工程. It is not clear which institution China Eximbank made this loan to. For now, AidData has assumed the Government of Algeria was the recipient, as the project was done on behalf of Algeria's Ministry of Housing. Several sources (see " سيدي عبد الله.. “المدينة الغبية”" and "Remis en décembre : les logements de Sidi Abdallah seront dotés des structures indispensables") point to an inauguration date of 10,000 housing units as December 11, 2016 by President of Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika. However, CSCEC Algerie, states that project passed inspection in December 2017. The December 11, 2016 may represent a ceremony of the completion of basic construction or may represent a different batch of housing units in Sidi Abdallah; regardless, that date is not representative of the project's completion and has been treated accordingly. The Year_uncertain field has been set to True because while the loan may have been provided in 2012, this is not necessarily the same as the commitment year.