Redevelopment plan for Bay of Algiers

The urban development plan aims to transform several kilometres of coastline that years of industrial development have prevented residents from appreciating.

File picture of Algerian children flying kites on the Sablettes seafront promenade in the capital of Algiers. Algerian authorities plan to redevelop the Bay of Algiers by 2030 with numerous renovation and expansion projects. Farouk Batiche/ AFP PhotoShow less

ALGIERS // White-washed Algiers, with sweeping views over a glittering Mediterranean bay, has long neglected its greatest natural asset but a major project is restoring the city’s seaside splendour.

The urban development plan, requested by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, aims to transform several kilometres of coastline that years of industrial development have prevented residents from appreciating.

“The transformation of the bay, which is at the heart of the new image of Algiers, will help to resolve the paradox of seeing the sea but not accessing it directly or benefiting from it,” said architect Akli Amrouche.

Modern imperatives have wrought changes in recent decades – from railways and roads to a major port – that pushed the bay’s charm progressively farther out of reach for residents and visitors alike.

Only the tops of cranes can be seen above the ugly concrete walls surrounding the port, built to protect it from attacks by Islamist insurgents, who killed several foreign sailors during the civil war.

The conflict, which erupted in the early 1990s, pitted jihadists against the army during a decade of appalling blood-letting that killed up to 200,000 Algerians.

If blight of the port were not enough, pollution from waste water, emptied into the bay from the Oued El Harrach river, prompted a ban on swimming at most of the beaches once popular with bathers and sun-seekers.

Residents dream of Algiers becoming a Mediterranean city to rival Marseilles, Barcelona or Naples.

Instead, it has been pushing in the opposite direction, eating into the rich farmland of the Mitidja region, with the sea no longer visible from the sprawling suburbs.

The redevelopment plan seeks to readjust this focus, building walkways along the seafront, completely reorganising the city centre and restoring the old fishing port.

Several neighbourhoods will be linked to the sea by projects harnessing green technology and modern design, says Amrouche.

“The purpose is to give recreational areas back to the people of Algiers and re-open their access to the sea.”

The redevelopment of the bay will give special importance to green initiatives, with a project to clean up the Oued El Errach among the first, amid concern over its hazardous output.

Expected to cost nearly €400 million (Dh2 billion), the project aims to get rid of the 67 kilometre watercourse that flows through the city, carrying industrial waste into the bay.

A facility at the mouth of the river is planned for water sports, with other recreational activities along the corniche.

“An open air theatre, six children’s playgrounds, grass lawns and gardens planted with trees of different sizes, bridges and footpaths are all planned,” said Ahcene Ait Amara, at the water ministry.

Oued El Harrach should then become the bay’s new centre of gravity, with numerous projects dotted around it.

Among them will be the Grand Mosque, a vast compound with a prayer hall to hold 126,000 people and a minaret rising nearly 300 metres.

Earlier this year, the Sablettes promenade opened to the public, named after the nearby beach where the famed 20th century French writer Albert Camus came to bathe as a teenager.

The Nobel laureate celebrates the “healthy amusements” of the bay in his essay “Summer in Algiers”, a lyrical description of the city in which he grew up during French colonial rule.

Nearly 80 years on, hundreds of families can be found strolling along the revamped stretch of seafront every Friday.

On the other side of the port, a breakwater is being built to block the waves and allow the residents of Bab El Oued, once an insurgent stronghold, to rediscover the beach and simple seaside pleasures.

Yazid, who lives there, hopes the bay’s restoration will help the people of Algiers turn the page, and put the violence and trauma of the civil war behind them.

“The rehabilitation of these beaches and the growing number of leisure spots can contribute to stifling any revival of extremist ideas,” he says.

*Agence France-Presse