Work is set to begin on El Hamdania port in Algeria following the government approval for the new $3.3-billion deepwater port project located close to the town of Cherchell, in Tipaza province, some 80 km west of Algiers.

The project, which envisages a task for an overseas partner, will be executed in two stages. On completion, the new port will boast a handling capacity of 6.3 million TEUs, reported Construction Review.

The port will see the construction of up to 23 berths, thus bestowing the port a combined capacity of 25.7 mtpa (million tonnes per annum), stated the report.

South Korea-based Yuhill-Yooshin and Algeria’s Laboratoire des etudes maritimes (LEM) finished a comprehensive plan at the end of December, and the project has now secured $900 million worth of funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB), enabling the project to go on.

The AfDB loan will be reimbursed 20 years, with five years’ grace, said the report.

The port is to be developed by China Harbour Engineering Company and China State Construction Engineering Corporation, which will take a combined 49 per cent stake in the operating company, with the Algerian Port Authority taking 51 per cent, it stated.

Construction work is due to start this month, with the first berths planned for completion in 2021, it added.