French company RATP Dev, the world’s fifth largest urban transport operator, will operate and maintain future Algerian tramway line projects in partnership through a joint venture, the Algerian transport ministry said.

RATP Dev will partner with Entreprise du Métro d’Alger (EMA) and Etablissement Public de Transport Urbain et Suburbain d’Alger (ETUSA).

RATP Dev will run the joint venture in which it will be a 49 per cent stakeholder alongside EMA (30 per cent) and ETUSA (21 per cent). The joint venture will operate, service and maintain all tram services in Algeria, with the only exception being maintenance works for the Algiers tram.

The company will operate the Eastern line of the Algiers tramway. The first 7 km-section with 14 stops commenced its service in May 2011.

The second section of the line is nine kilometres long, with 16 stops and is scheduled to begin its service on June 15. A third section with a further seven kilometres will begin service in 2013. Once completed, the tramway line will carry up to 185,000 passengers per day.

RATP Dev will facilitate coordination and inter-modality with the Algiers metro, which it has already been operating since services began in November 2011, through its local subsidiary, RATP El Djazair.

The joint venture will also be tasked with operating and maintaining tramways in Oran and Constantine. The Oran and Constantine tramways are scheduled to begin service in 2013 and will feature nearly 19 km with 32 stops and 8 km with ten stops respectively.

Many other projects are also under study in Algeria including tram projects in Sidi Bel Abbes, Ourgla, Batna, Setif, Annaba and extensions to lines in Algiers, Oran and Constantine.

RATP Dev will provide its expertise as an international operator in order to launch and operate new tramway infrastructures in Algeria.

RATP Dev executive board chairman Jean-Marc Janaillac said: “We aim to consolidate our expansion in North Africa and ensure our long-term presence in the Gulf region.”

“We are delighted with this latest partnership with the Algerian authorities, who first put their trust in our expertise and know-how to operate the Algiers metro and have now renewed it by asking us to ensure the future of the tramway in Algeria.”

“This latest success consolidates our expansion strategy in North Africa. We also aim to ensure a long-term presence in the Gulf region where many new transport infrastructure projects will be commissioned in the years to come,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service