Chinese contractor wins contract for Grand Mosque in Algeria

23 October 2011

China State Construction & Engineering Corporation awarded $1.4bn construction contract

China State Construction & Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) has been awarded a $1.4bn contract to build the Grand Mosque in Algeria.

CSCE saw off competition from the joint ventures of the local Cosider Construction and ETRHB with Spain’s FCC and Lebanon’s Arabian Construction Company (ACC) to win the main construction package. Seven groups had prequalified for the tender after contractors had submitted entries in October 2010 (MEED 17:3:11).

The Grand Mosque, officially known as the Djamaa el-Djazair, will be the third largest mosque in the world when it is completed. The mosque will be located in Mohammadia, east of the capital Algiers. The client for the project is Algeria’s National Agency for Design and Management of Djamaa el-Djazair (Anargema).

The project will consist of 12 buildings with a total built-up area of 400,000 square metres. When complete, the development will have a capacity of almost 120,000 people and will include a 21,000 square-metre prayer room, a 21,000 sq m courtyard, a 42,000 sq m esplanade and a 300-metre high minaret.

The development will also include a two-building culture centre made up of a 16,000 sq m auditorium and a 21,800 sq m library. A 300-student graduate school and car parking spaces for 6,000 vehicles complete the development.    

A consortium of German design consultants Krebs und Kiefer and KSP Engel und Zimmerman won a competition for the design of the development in 2008. The construction works will take 48 months to complete.

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