In the run-up to the celebration of the 61st anniversary of Algeria’s independence on 5 July 2023, the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, launched a number of projects, including the construction of the Cap Djinet seawater desalination plant in the wilaya of Boumerdès. This was done at a ceremony attended by a number of other key Algerian figures.
The plant is being built by the national civil engineering and construction company (GCB) and the national company for major well works (GTP), on a 16-hectare site. The two companies will equip the plant with ten seawater desalination units based on the principle of reverse osmosis. Miah Cap Djinet, a subsidiary of Algeria Energy Company (AEC), will supervise the works.
Increasing Algeria’s desalination capacity
According to the Algerian head of state, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the plant, which will have a capacity of 300,000 m3, will boost the drinking water supply to 3 million people in Boumerdès and Algiers, two wilayas facing water shortages, partly due to drought. Delivery of the plant is scheduled for December 2024.
On Wednesday 5 July 2023, Abdelmadjid Tebboune also laid the foundation stone for the Fouka 2 seawater desalination plant, in the wilaya of Tipaza. This second plant, the same size as the one at Cap Djinet, will be built on a 7-hectare site by the national company Cosider Canalisations, another AEC subsidiary. The aim is to provide drinking water to 3 million people in the western part of the Tipaza wilaya and part of the Blida wilaya by 2025.
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These two plants are part of a series of five seawater desalination plants to be built in several wilayas. The other three wilayas are Oran, El Tarf and Bejaïa. Each facility will have a desalination capacity of 300,000 m3 per day, giving a total capacity of 1.5 million m3 for all the plants together, which will increase the share of desalination in the production of drinking water in Algeria from 17% to 42%. The country currently has 14 seawater desalination plants.
Inès Magoum