2023-10-19 21:10:54
ALGIERS – The Prime Minister, Mr. Aïmene Benabderrahmane, highlighted, Thursday, during his response to the concerns raised by the members of the Council of the Nation around the Government’s General Policy Declaration, the “unprecedented” efforts made in the field of investment.
During a plenary chaired by the President of the Council of the Nation, Mr. Salah Goudjil, in the presence of members of the Government, Mr. Benabderrahmane affirmed that unprecedented efforts have been made for two years, for the launch of strategic projects including all key sectors, in addition to projects in the Hydraulics, Agriculture and Housing sectors.
Regarding investment expenditure recorded in 2022, their total reached 3,913 billion DA, with an increasing amount which reached 4,019 billion DA, according to estimates for 2023, he said.
These expenses concern numerous structuring projects, including the integrated phosphate (PPI), Gara Djebilet and zinc projects in Oued Amizour, according to the Prime Minister who highlighted their contribution in the diversification of sources of income, in addition for having established the country as a leader in the region in terms of exports of various raw materials.
In this context, Mr. Benabderrahmane underlined the Government’s approach aimed at “in-depth treatment” of the land issue “closely linked” to the revival of investment, which resulted in the development of the bill establishing the conditions for granting economic land falling within the private domain of the State and intended for the realization of investment projects which aims to enable the Algerian Investment Promotion Agency (AAPI) to manage the process of investment, starting with the granting of land until the projects come into operation.
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This approach, continues the Prime Minister, aims to completely free investment from administrative restrictions and to digitize all related procedures, to enshrine the principle of equality in treatment and strengthen opportunities for access to land, particularly through the obligation to publish the land offer and the exclusive processing of land applications via the investor’s digital platform.
As for the situation of public economic enterprises at a standstill or those having suffered from a deficit in their cost plan, Mr. Benabderrahmane indicated that the government had adopted several decisions to revive them and raise them to the expected level of competitiveness in with a view to “forging a place on the national or even international market”.
Referring to the efforts made to promote non-hydrocarbon exports, the Prime Minister recalled the battery of measures aimed at simplifying export procedures, supporting exporters and handling their grievances, but also taking charge of the settlement of exporters’ outstanding debts between 2017 and 2021, through the allocation of an amount of 5 billion Da.
In terms of strengthening self-sufficiency in basic products, such as vegetable oils, he reported on the industrial crop development program, launched two seasons ago, with more than 11,000 hectares of rapeseed cultivated in different wilayas of the country.
From the last agricultural season, he continues, oilseed crops have been reinforced by sunflowers, with the aim of cultivating around 45,000 hectares in the medium term, particularly in the southern regions, suitable for this type of crop.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister reviewed the measures taken by the public authorities to support the purchasing power of citizens and curb inflation, citing, among other things, the development by the government of a draft executive decree setting maximum profit margins for pulses, rice and other widely consumed food products.
It is also a question, continues Mr. Benabderrahmane, of developing the commercial fabric and giving new impetus to official commercial practices, in particular through the creation of regional wholesale markets, and the establishment of a participatory approach in order to regularize the situation of traders in parallel spaces and integrate them into untapped markets.
Referring to the organization of commercial activity and the fight against illegal speculation, the Prime Minister recalled that the control operations carried out during the first nine (9) months of 2023 resulted in the recording of 149,705 interventions having allowed the seizure of nearly 900 tonnes of goods.
After affirming that the Government is currently working on developing a national infrastructure plan, particularly in remote municipalities and newly created wilayas, Mr. Benabderrahmane reported the mobilization of “400,000 rural housing aids under the five-year term in courses, including 260,000 units awarded to date.
Concerning the revision of the conditions for obtaining the social housing formula, the official indicated that the revision of executive decree 08-142 setting the rules for awarding public rental housing was underway, in order to toughen the measures of allocation and fight against fraud by introducing digitalization into applications for this housing segment.
Regarding the strengthening of the transport sector, he insisted on the importance of the action plan of the company Air Algérie extending until 2025 and aimed at its reorganization through the restructuring of commercial agencies at the international level, the creation of maintenance and ground service units, the redeployment of personnel and the reduction of operating costs, as well as the generalization of the use of digitalization with a view to improving the services provided.
The Prime Minister also announced the development of a draft executive decree setting out the modalities for managing the reimbursement system within the framework of the contribution to the reimbursement of transport costs, canceling the current text which dates back to 1997 , specifying that it aims to subsidize the transport costs of products for the benefit of economic suppliers and industrialists operating in the field of production and processing, with a view to maintaining the prices of these products at ordinary levels once arrived at the consumer.
These measures will benefit the populations of 19 wilayas in the south, adds Mr. Benabderrahmane who stressed that this new text will make it possible to compensate for all the shortcomings previously recorded.
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