A consortium, comprising Walter Bau vereinigt mit Dywidag, Cosider and Infrafer, has won a US$194M contract to build a 4.1km long section of the Algiers metro in Algeria, construction of which starts this month.
The 8.9m diameter single tube tunnel will be constructed using NATM through marl. The contract also includes the construction of four stations.
Walter Bau’s subsidiary, Dywidag International, holds a 51% share in the JV, and will be responsible for all aspects of construction planning. A separate contract for the engineering side, was awarded to a joint venture between Systra and SGTE. Systra was previously involved in transportation surveys in Algeria, one of which led to the decision to build an underground metro.
The contract was awarded by Enterprise du Métro d’Alger (EMA), an arm of the Algerian ministry for transport. The government has also insured the financing of the project, which should avoid problems faced by the project when it was first mooted in the mid-1980s – the collapse of oil prices caused it to stall. Tunnelling works should take about 30 months.
Construction of the 14km long Line 1 of the Algiers metro has already started – all of which will be underground. The 4.5km long section between Taforah and Hamma, including five stations, should be completed before the end of 2003. This section lies about halfway along Line 1’s alignment. The recently awarded section runs from Hamma to Hai el Badr in the south-east. Together, these sections form Stage 1 of Line 1. Contracts for the the 3.5km long Stage 2, including six stations, between Taforah to Oued Koriche in the north-west have yet to be awarded
The overall network should eventually consist of three lines, stretching over 56km, and includes 54 stations.
