Archive for April, 2013

China hopes to hit the right note with Algeria opera house


Along the highway, alternating blue-and-white corrugated iron sheets are all that can be seen of the opera house China offered as a gift to Algeria six years ago.

Behind the fence, Chinese construction workers are putting the finishing touches to a building – but it’s not the 1,400-seat opera house. Rather they are finishing the roofs of small houses for more construction workers.

An Algerian employee of the Chinese construction company admits work is “falling behind schedule”. “It was bound to happen, the merchandise comes from far away,” he says.

The foundation stone for the $40m (£26m) project in the Ouled Fayet suburbs was laid last November at a ceremony attended by the Chinese ambassador to Algeria, Liu Yuhe, and the Algerian minister of culture, Khalida Toumi.

Toumi said the project was conceived in 2006 during a visit to China by Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

It would be “an important symbol of Chinese-Algerian friendship,” Lu Yifeng, economic and trade adviser at China’s embassy in Algiers, told Reuters. “We would like to pursue our friendship co-operation with Algeria during its next economic plan.”

2013
04/29
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Algeria has waste storage worth 230 million euros a year


Algeria has an abandoned treasure but lacks the ability to grasp it as data shows that a better organized waste storage would be worth 230 million euros a year. Out of the incredible amount of waste produced annually, only 5% is recycled and the state is seeking private investors in a sector which has few risks.

Mohamed Chaieb Aissaoui, an expert with the environment state secretary, cited very interesting data at a recent forum.

Assaoui said that domestic waste is some 13,5 million tons a year, approximately one kilo a year per inhabitant, of which 50% could be recycled. Some 6.1 million tons could be treated and re-enter the productive cycle, benefiting the economy and the environment.

The 6.1 million tons of waste which could be recycled includes 1.8 of paper, 1.2 of plastics, 1.6 of fabrics and 300,000 tons of metal worth overall an estimated 230 million euros. ‘A real deposit’, commented Assaoui who also said that small companies operating in the sector – some 247 – can only recuperate a very small percentage of the materials, partly exported, also due to their size.

The Algerian state is however trying to develop this sector also with a plan – the National programme of management of city waste – dividing up waste between ‘classic’ (plastic, paper, metal, textile, glass, wood and organic material) and ‘complex’ (tyres, oil, batteries and other electrical and electronic objects). Algeria has also approved a plan to create 48 new landfills and enlarging some of the largest, existing dumps.

2013
04/26
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Health: One in six children is obese in Algeria


Algerians consume an average of 50 to 70 million loaves of bread, daily. It turns out that the Algerians are among the largest consumers of bread in the world. However, eating habits have changed completely. These products have become addicted to fast food. They eat too salty, too sweet and too fatty. It is also great lovers? Hrissa ‘and mayonnaise. They take less fruit and vegetables. This is the observation made ​​by the president of the Algerian Consumer Federation (CAF) Harizi Zaki, at a scientific meeting organized on Thursday by the federation under the theme: “Consumption-obesity, between reality and disease,” Algiers. The participants in the meeting, whether members of the medical profession or associations have sounded the alarm. This new way of eating with disastrous consequences on the mental and physical development of Algerians, adults or children, warn experts. Speakers cited a direct consequence of obesity. “A scourge that threatens today’s health Algerians, especially our children, knowing that its frequency is increasing.” This was said Dr. Bouchrit Ghania specialist school epidemiology at the screening and monitoring (UDS) of the Common Bouzaréah unit. She said one in six children suffering from obesity, in our schools. For the epidemiologist, obesity in Algerian schools “is alarming and requires government intervention.” For her, obesity is not a cosmetic problem, but a disease that can lead to many others. She cites diabetes, back problems, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and even causes cancer. Participants at the meeting said that the fight against obesity must start in schools. Others believe it is in the cradle. They recommend a nutrition education for children, from an early age while also getting them used to practice the sport. Finally, the Algerian Consumer Federation decided to conduct awareness campaigns in the camps this summer for children . It was also decided to publish a textbook on good feeding practices, which will be distributed to all children in school, starting next school year.

2013
04/22
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New website tracks graft in Tunisia


This is also what Algeria needs and Morocco.

Tunisia’s “I Watch” organisation on Saturday (April 13th) launched a new online “crowd-map” for reporting cases of corruption.

The name chosen for the site is “Billkamcha”, a slang term for a person “caught in the act”. Just 48 hours after the site went live, it already collected 7,000 supporters.

“This interactive website is designed to enable the victims of corruption to immediately report what happened to them whether this corruption is financial, administrative or in the form of favouritism,” I-Watch Tunisia President Achraf Aouadi explained at the event launch.

  • [Billkamcha.com] Any Tunisian can log on to Billkamcha.com to report incidents of corruption.[Billkamcha.com] Any Tunisian can log on to Billkamcha.com to report incidents of corruption.

According to Aouadi, the site allows whistleblowers to remain anonymous while helping them to seek justice. “If they refuse this option, we offer to apply pressure on the media in order to uncover corruption and corrupt individuals,” he said.

“Control of corruption in Tunisia requires the efforts of everyone and the role of civil society is necessary and inevitable,” Taoufik Chammari, president of the National Anti-corruption Network, told Magharebia.

“We have to go to the people and reinforce the concept of anti-corruption in them and show them all methods and techniques used by corrupt people,” he added.

Imed Ben Khemisa, a former member of the national commission investigating corruption and embezzlement, also praised the project.

“Personally I find the idea really good, fruitful and meaningful for our country,” he told Magharebia.

He explained that his committee’s work after the revolution “resulted in the transfer of more than four hundred cases to the public prosecutor after review of more than five thousand”.

For her part, Salma ben Jemii, a bank executive said, “Such a site will encourage hesitant people and those who fear administrative prosecution on charges of disclosing trade secrets to reveal what is going on around them in terms of tampering with public money, especially with regard to public banks.”

Tunisia’s rating in the annual Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International fell from 59th in 2010 to 75th in 2012.

During the World Social Forum hosted by Tunisia last month, Farid Farid, media co-ordinator for the Middle East at Transparency International, said that the most important factors that led to the worsening corruption were “acceptance by society of bribery and toleration of it, as well as the failure of regulatory institutions, the non-activation of laws and the lack of transparency and good governance in institutions”.

The latest opinion poll carried out by the Tunisian Centre for Corporate Governance published in September 2011 indicated a level of corruption in the police sector reaching 72 per cent, 70 per cent within political parties, 57 per cent in customs and 57 per cent in the transitional government, 40 per cent of lawyers and 39 per cent of judges.

I Watch was created in March 2011 as a local non-profit watchdog with two main objectives: transparency and fighting corruption.

“It is the duty of citizens to exercise caution and avoid selfishness when seeking help without falling victim to corrupt individuals,” commented Hatem Omri, a human rights activist. “We have to condemn the briber and the bribed. It is then that we can talk about beginning to eliminate corruption.”

In February of last year, Abderrahmen Ladgham, the minister for governance and combatting corruption, said that a third of Tunisians were involved in cases of corruption at least once in their lives.

“According to statistics available to us, 90 per cent of Tunisians consider corruption a crime yet we find that one person out of three either accepted a bribe or paid it,” he said.

I Watch will co-ordinate with a number of lawyers to process the files that it has begun to receive. The site has a team of six active members in charge of receiving complaints and reports relating to corruption. It will also depend on ten bloggers whose mission is to expose and detect cases of corruption received by the site.

2013
04/19
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Tunisia orders price cuts as discontent simmers


Tunisia ordered a drastic reduction in the price of some consumer goods to cool inflation in the face of simmering social tensions, which economists warned could lead to shortages.

The commerce ministry unveiled price cuts that include 43 percent on potatoes, 10 percent on eggs, six to nine percent on red meat, 15 percent on vegetable oil and five to 13 percent on milk derivatives.

These are added to a list of household goods that have been subsidized for decades, notably milk, bread and fuel.

Economists warned that the new price controls risked penalizing producers and investors, and feeding the black market.

“That has never worked elsewhere, and it won’t work in Tunisia,” Ezzedine Saidane, an independent economist, told AFP.

“Some products will go through parallel distribution chains, which families with the lowest incomes won’t have access to… and the producers could cut back their output, creating shortages,” he said.

A study published last month by the National Statistics Institute and the African Development Bank revealed the long-term lack of efficiency of price controls on sales in Tunisia, with the main beneficiaries not being the poorest members of society.

The announcement comes amid bristling discontent in Tunisia, where youth unemployment, entrenched poverty in parts of the country and high living costs, all key factors behind the January 2011 revolution, have fueled social unrest.

Inflation, driven by rising food prices, rose to 6.5 percent in March from a year earlier, the National Statistics Institute said, in what the central bank called a 50-year record.

2013
04/19
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Algeria – Over one billion m3 of treated waste water will be reused in agriculture at the end of 2014


wastewater purification station for agriculture

The Ministry of Water Resources through the use of treated wastewater in irrigation one of its priorities.It is even a “great challenge” for the sector, according to its first charge, Hocine Necib. It remains a barrier “cultural” to blow, he said today on the sidelines of the Senate.

The reuse of treated wastewater in agriculture figures prominently among the priorities of the Ministry of Water Resources, said today its first charge, Hocine Necib.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Senate, the Minister of Water Resources announced that the goal that his department was reaching the end of 2014 to 1.2 billion m3 of treated wastewater reuse in agriculture “It is a big challenge for the sector. Algeria is a semi-arid country. This is why the strategy of the sector, an important focus is the development and mobilization of unconventional resource: desalination of seawater and reuse of treated wastewater. ”

The use in the irrigation of treated wastewater is already effective in the scope of the M’leta (Oran).Currently under construction and equipment, perimeter that will extend its term to 8000 hectares, is wholly irrigated by the largest Algeria El Kerma sewage treatment plant.

Mr. Necib said to optimize the use of treated wastewater in agriculture, a partnership is implemented with U.S. operators, with the aim of going to the tertiary treatment of treated water treatment which is to improve quality by eliminating elements such as pesticides and metals. However, investment in this type of treatment is expensive, acknowledged the minister spoke of the need for studies to find a “compromise between the cost of investment and profitability.”

Hocine Necib stressed the need “awareness of farmers and citizens” about the benefits of the use of wastewater for irrigation. According to him, there is a “very important” effort to make the Ministry of Agriculture, the Chamber of Agriculture wilaya and associations.

2013
04/19
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algeria U20- Ghana U20


2013
04/19
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China invested $1.5bn in Algeria in a decade


Beijing has invested more than $1.5 billion (1.1 billion euros) over the past decade in Algeria, where 50 top Chinese companies and 30,000 workers are based, media reported on Sunday.

By the end of 2012, China’s total investments in the North African country over the past decade reached $1.5 billion, Beijing’s ambassador to Algiers Liu Yuhe told the daily Liberte.

“More than 30,000 Chinese people work in Algeria in sectors including railway and road construction. They are also helping to develop the water sector,” he said.

Algeria has granted 50 Chinese companies building contracts worth a total of $20 billion, including giving the $1.5-billion contract for a huge mosque in Algiers to the China State Construction Engineering Corporation.

The project is due to be completed in 2015.

Such deals have made Algeria the most important African market for Chinese businesses, and one of the most important in the world, the African Development Bank said.

China has rapidly expanded its economic interests in Africa in recent years, and more than one million Chinese workers are based on the continent, according to Beijing figures.

Trade between China and Africa was $200 billion in 2012 — almost double that of the United States with the continent.

2013
04/15
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Algerian dessert is goldmine for solar energy


2013
04/15
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Algerian or Tunisian Sodas : identity of soda booming in France


As you all know Muslims do not drink alcohol so they tend to drink more sodas and Juices. So the question is why not make the sodas instead of consuming them.

In Algeria we have Hamoud Boualem which was founded all the way in 1878. Ifri and so on.

the market for soft drinks has been growing recently in France. Algerians, Tunisians and Moroccans want to rediscover the tastes of their home countries.

They are a few questions remaining.

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2013
04/13
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Tunisia gets $29m from ex-regime assets


 

Ali Bin Fetais al-Marri, a UN-appointed stolen asset recovery specialist, on Thursday handed President Moncef Marzouki a $28.8m cheque secured from a Lebanese bank account belonging to Leyla Trabelsi, the wife of the longtime deposed autocrat Zein al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Still, the amount recovered is considered to be a tiny proportion of the billions Tunisians suspect Mr Ben Ali, his relatives and his inner circle stashed away in bank accounts under fake names across the world – including in the UK, US, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Lebanon and Morocco, according to legal experts.

But Mr Marri said the symbolism of the cheque for now was more significant than the actual cash. “A revolution is not easy, but what follows a revolution is not easier,” he told reporters, according to the English-language news website Tunisia Live.

The country is now facing serious economic troubles and is finalising a $1.78bn contingency loan with the International Monetary Fund as its finances continue to deteriorate.

The country has struggled to recover the ill-gotten riches of the former regime. The EU only last November took steps to allow frozen assets belonging to former regimes in Tunisia and Egypt to be handed back to current governments after proper judicial procedures. Since 2011, cash and assets of 48 Tunisians have been frozen.

At a glitzy, high-profile auction last December, Tunisia’s ministry of finance began selling off Mr Ben Ali’s sometimes tacky, high-priced possessions, including cars, paintings, rugs, jewellery and yachts, though there is no word yet on how much the sale has raised.

Yet they need to do more. 29 million is only change. Tunisians need to reduce corruption and to make opportunities accessible to everybody.

 

2013
04/12
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WTO: Algeria will never get in


At 11 rounds of negotiation and all of that hard work, you would think that algeria would be done by now. Why does algeria need the WTO anyways. Algeria does not produce much for export and Industry in algeria needs more support not less support.

2013
04/10
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algerian malaysian researchers make bricks from waste, desert sand


population growth in many urban areas of the developing world is outstripping available housing, prompting interest in making bricks from cheap and durable local materials. Fifty six per cent of the African population is expected to live in urban areas by 2030 (up from 18 per cent in 1950).

Malaysian scientists at the Tenaga National University have produced prototype bricks using waste from the mining, coal and steel industries. They mixed the materials — including quarry dust, the iron oxide that forms on steel during production, and ash from furnaces — with cement and water.

SPEED READ

  • Algerian and Malaysian researchers have developed new types of cheap, eco-friendly building bricks
  • The teams used local waste materials and sand as components of the bricks
  • If they pass national building codes, they could help solve housing problems

Traditional brick manufacturing uses high pressure or firing in a kiln to shape the bricks. But the scientist formed the bricks within moulds without applying pressure, reducing costs and simplifying the brick-making process, they say.

The researchers add that using waste materials rather than clay or shale conserves resources and maintains the soil quality needed for sustainable agriculture development.

According to the scientists, whose findings are published in the April edition of Construction and Building Materials, the new bricks have a variety of promising properties, including resistance to corrosion and compression.

Mohamed Heikal, a professor of inorganic chemistry and building materialsat Egypt’s Benha University, tells SciDev.Net that the new bricks can be used as an alternative to conventional bricks, as they are more durable than traditional bricks in resisting weather-related freezing and thawing. They also have lower water absorption properties.

Elisa Adorni, a researcher at the Italy-based University of Parma’s Department of Civil–Environmental Engineering and Architecture, says: “The use of waste materials for the production of bricks and concrete blocks is an optimal method to solve the problem of storing waste materials and to optimise the cost for the production of building materials.”

But it is important to take into account the chemical reactions that may occur when the bricks swell upon coming into contact with moisture, Adorni says.
That is what we need. In algeria everybody is trying to build a house and their is a lot of construction projects abounding so the price of cement goes up and down.

Elsewhere, Algerian scientists at the University of Kasdi Merbah and the Polytechnic School of Algiers have also developed and produced prototype bricks. Theirs are made from concrete made from desert sand, and are strong, and provide good heat and sound insulation.

The bricks could be produced cheaply in the southern region of Algeria, where Saharan sand is especially plentiful and available at minimal cost, according to the study, which was published in December 2012 issue of theArabian Journal for Science and Engineering. The researchers carried out 750 laboratory tests to hone the brick.

“If the compression and the thermal resistance of [the brick] are validated by Algerian building material codes, it could solve the building material crises which Algerian builders are suffering from,” Ali Zaidi, a researcher in the Department of Civil Engineering of Algeria’s University of Laghouat, tellsSciDev.Net.

Zaidi explains that bricks in Algeria are often stressed by the hot summers and cold winters, and assailed by sandstorms.

Mohammed Hebasha, who manages an Egyptian building construction company, says firms should be established to exploit the commercial potential of both brick types.

2013
04/10
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Algeria: A hub for sugar exports


The Chief Executive Officer and owner of Cevital, Issad Rebrab has said that the company is expecting to increase its white sugar exportations by 20% this year. To reach its goal, it will be boosting its sugar refining capacity from 750,000 tons to 2,75 million tons.

The company has always set its eyes on exporting a million ton per annum but logistics and loading problems at the at the port of Bejaia have been obstacles. Cevital has nevertheless been making considerable exportations in the past two years. In 2011, it exported 377,000 tons before reaching 60,000 tons monthly last year.

CEO Rebrab believes they can do more because the present production capacity is 2 million tons and it can rise to 2,75 million tons by the end of 2013 or early next year. Analyzing the evolution of the company, he said “we reached the rate of 600,000 tons of exports per year in December. Monthly volumes reached 60,000 tons over the past three months, which means we can reach 720,000 tons in 12 months.”

Cevital is family owned and the biggest sugar refinery in North Africa. It will continue to concentrate on Algeria, where it is located, but will export its surpluses to almost 28 countries amongst which are Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Syria, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Tunisia and Libya.

With regards to its objectives, Cevital is hoping to reach its targets overcoming the problems they have encountered at the port. It is also planning to increase its sugar refining capacity from 2 million tons to 2.6 million tons per year. The company is hoping that conditions in Brazil remain favorable, most of its raw sugar coming from there.

2013
04/10
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