Algeria-China $6 billion Phosphate Plant to create 3,000 jobs

Algeria and China has signed a $6 billion deal to build a 700 km phosphate plant in the region of Tebessa, northeast region of Algeria.

The project, which will be completed in partnership between two Algerian companies; energy giant, Sonatrach and the state-run fertilizer manufacturer, Semidal-Manal, and two Chinese companies; CITIC and Wengfu Group, is expected to reach its completion in 2022.

“The plant will come online in 2022, and it will create 3,000 jobs,” Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, CEO of state energy firm Sonatrach, said to reporters in a televised comments during the signing ceremony which was attended by Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia.

Sonatrach will hold 51 percent of the project – which will cost $6 billion to build – and Chinese state-owned conglomerate CITIC 49 percent, an Algerian source said.

The project, in the region of Tebessa, 700 km (430 miles) east of the capital Algiers, will generate $1.9 billion per year, according to Sonatrach’s CEO.

The move will be a major shift on the diversification drive for Algeria as it strives to shift its focus from energy which represents 95 percent of its external revenues.

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