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A Special International Report
Prepared by
The Washington Times
Advertising Department - Published on July 2, 1999
[Home Page]
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Advertisers (1) Sonatrach,
An International Petroleum Group
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Casbah's unique beauty to be restored Some 25,000 families lived in the Casbah, often with 30 or 40 people in a few rooms in the same house. During the recent troubles the area has become known as a terrorist stronghold and as part of the rehabilitation project the government has decided to rehouse many of the families living in the most dilapidated homes. The site holds more than 1,000 houses containing some 6,000 homes. Even today foreigners who wish to enter the Casbah are escorted - when we visited it we were surrounded by a small army of bodyguards and heavily armed black uniformed policemen In 1962 the Cashbah contained 1,700 buildings, of which 500 dated from colonial days and 1,200 ancient local style houses which were said to be in a good state on the whole.
At that point the Casbah was said to be "in an advanced state of degradation and occupied by a disillusioned and fragile population "which was liable to attempts of recruitment by terrorist organizations and young people, who had been excluded from a specialized educational system especially were suffering from a great number of social problems.. It was so insalubrious that it had become difficult to move about in the open spaces. Ancient plumbing systems are rotting and leaking and are having to be rebuilt. A large number of partially demolished buildings whose debris filled certain narrow streets and made circulation difficult. Demolished and partially demolished houses were being used as refuges and hideouts by vagrants and criminals.
The Cashbah which was originally the main part of the city of Algiers was cut open by the French shortly after their invasion, and they carved straight roads through the center in order to have access in case of revolt, which at the time was a frequent problem. The French also ringed the Cashbah with modern buildings. With more than 70,000 people housed on the 50 hectare site, of whom 35 per cent were under 18, often with 6 to 12 people in one room the problems due to overcrowding had made the Casbah the main source of crime and violence in the City. A scheme which involves reducing the population to 40,000 has been integrated into a Millennium project which will restore the area's beauty and open it up towards the sea. The idea said one of the architects is to make it possible to walk straight out of the Cashbah and down to the water's edge. "This means that we had to build walkways across the main road which surrounds the bay - which stopped pedestrians reaching the quays - and we have developed a complete new international shopping precinct and exhibition zone. A series of restaurants are under construction - and some have already been reserved by Chinese and Italian companies, down on the quay and overlook the spot where the fishing boats tie up. " A former dockside building which has Greek style columns is being converted into another restaurant and cafe giving a panoramic view of the fishermen stretching their nets on the waterside.
Cherif Rahmani, minister and governor of Algiers, says that before he took office Algiers was practically a closed town where the public services were practically non existent, there was no public lighting. There were dozens of terrorist attacks, the first priority was to reintroduce security measures. The first thing was to go into these areas and show that the state was present There were insufficient police stations and they were badly situated - in fact the situation had not changed since the end of the colonialist period. All the new quarters had practically no police presence. So we decided to divide Algiers up into sectors and install police stations in each sector. We opened 250 new police stations in one year. Now we have ensured security on the whole territory of Algiers. We had to recruit and train policemen and above all get the population to take part. They are now involved in the fight against terrorism and the different groups. It had been necessary to expand the city's territory - and "as a consequence we were able to discover the spaces where the forces of evil were training", said Rahmani. We have now set up proper water, gas and electricity networks and we have optimized our land area. The we had to simplify the local administration so we divided it up into the general services under the governate and then the local borough councils. Then there are 3,500 associations which we have reunited as a consultative council and who are brought into decision making. "We decided that we had to metropolise Algiers and internationalize the town. This was a Mediterranean capital and it was important that international organizations could move into Algiers. Terrorism had been a repulsive element for the City and we needed to make it more attractive "We had to stop the hemorrhage. We had to stop the terrorism. "Then we needed a project. We decided tat Algiers would be the capital of the 21st century. “We said to ourselves that the most beautiful thing in Algiers was its coastline. “We divided the town in poles. First we had to rehabilitate the habitat, both the old and the colonial. The local services. There were 60 transit centers where we put people in the 60's after fire, earthquakes and disasters. They were made so that people could live there for three months, but they had been there for ten years. So we rehoused 2,000 families. “There was the problem of employment. In one year we created 100,000 local jobs, certain permanent and others temporary. We cleaned up the beaches, in brief we took in hand everything that had to do with open spaces. “There was no theater, practically no cinema, practically no libraries - we have now become the town in Africa with the most libraries. And we have opened many mediatheques, where people can connect to internet, listen to music, watch television. We have modernized the cinemas, the theater, museums, now in Algiers there is a cultural life which has restarted. We have created 300 sports spaces. “We have theater and cultural groups who are coming here. For the year 2000 we are going to have 50 international companies which are going to come here. “The climate in Algiers had been changed. Now the camp of hope is much bigger than the camp of death. “We said that the Millennium was coming and that we should celebrate it. “An immense sporting complex is going to be opened west of Algiers built by our Chinese friends.” Work on a giant stadium was to start in September. “We are also building a new town which will be specialised in the scientific and medical fields. There will be a thousand new homes - the Chinese have already reserved 400 of these. The town which will be called Sidi Abdullah will be ecologic and modern. An expressway will be constructed to link it to the network and all the facilities have put in. "We have been opening relations with many large European cities and we should have hope soon with some in America. "We have recently evacuated 800 families and we hope eventually that this will reach 1,000 - we have relodged them in the suburbs. "There were people who were squatting in the Palaces - some of the finest palaces in the Casbah. There were tents put up in the centre of the Casbah . In short it was hell - but all that has been cleaned up. We want to make a place where people can live and enjoy themselves - A place for tourism and a place for history. We set up an international concourse to design the new Millennium project. There were Portuguese, Spanish and French and now we are off in the right direction. "We said that we should not stop there and that we had to rehabilitate the big mosques around the Casbah as well as the infrastructures which date from the Ottoman period.” |
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Table of Contents (1) His Excellency Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria (2) Country has resources and potential and is moving toward peace (3) History (4) Stability predictable for Algeria (5) Terrorism is costly - in lives and finances (7) Despite being free, press sometimes is silenced (8) Local bidders and foreign investors being courted (9) Despite previous problems, economic future is bright (10) Institutions (11) Director-General sees light as country comes out of tunnel (12) Housing shortage creates enormous market for homebuilders (13) Bureaucracy remains a major barrier to investment (14) Algeria is gateway to Africa (15) A country made for Tourism (16) A Rich Heritage in Arts and Crafts (17) Casbah's unique beauty to be restored (18) Algeria Facts (19) Privatization goes forward with progress, challenges (20) Country rich in resources, civilization, ambition (21) World renowned hotel carries proud past of history and wealth (22) Fight against terrorism has helped world (23) Banking reforms, foreign investment moving quickly (24) World Bank senses new optimism in Algeria (25) Algerian-American Chamber of Commerce meets to promote trade relations (26) Ministry of Labor promotes programs to reduce unemployment (27) Agriculture potential is tremendous, but investment is needed (28) Algeria adopts new programs to solve water shortages (29) Wine growing provides export income (30) Petroleum companies aware of potential says Sonatrach CEO (31) About Sonatrach (32) Bright future ahead for oil industry (33) Huge oil resources will last for many years (34) The place of small industry in the economy (35) Country's first Bourse to open soon (36) ONAB encourages investors to grasp potential in Algeria (37) The El-Aurassi Hotel plans to go public (38) Enad hopes to partner with leading detergent producers (39) ENGG strives to improve refining system and attract foreign investment (40) Agricultural Bank plans expansion (41) Vehicle manufacturer seeks further investment |
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The
Algiers Casbah , so unique that it has been adopted as world heritage in 1990 by UNESCO,
is undergoing a major reconstruction project, to restore it to its historic beauty and
rehouse its overcrowded population. 
Thirty years later there were only 450 colonial
buildings, 250 of the ancient houses had been demolished and 450 which had been emptied
and walled up - but of which 50 per cent were being squatted. Only 50 buildings had been
restored and 200 had been neglected by their owners and were over populated.
The Casbah had a population density of 1,600 people per
hectare as against an acceptable level of 900.
Vast former colonial warehouses which line the
waterfront are being converted into a modern shopping precinct providing dozens of new
shops which will eventually be leased for international style boutiques with top names.
Below them on two other levels will be an exhibition area for artisans and other shows of
general interest.