Water privatization in Algeria has been carried out in the country's four largest cities – Algiers, Annaba, Constantine and Oran – in 2005–08 through management contracts.
[1] In other Algerian cities publicly owned and managed utilities continue to provide water and sanitation services alone without the support of private companies.
[1] The World Bank provided technical assistance for the preparation of the privatization of the water and sanitation systems in Annaba, Constantine and Oran, all of which were awarded after competitive bidding.
[7] In November 2007 Aguas de Barcelona from Spain, itself a subsidiary of Suez, was awarded a Euro 30m, 5.5 year-management contract for the city of Oran after competitive bidding.
[8] In June 2008 the Société des Eaux de Marseille (SEM) of France, a subsidiary of Suez and Veolia, was awarded a Euro 28m 5.5 year-management contract for Constantine.
[9] According to Michel Valin, chief executive of SEACO, union disputes are a major challenge and technical issues are secondary to "getting his growing and increasingly young team to take ownership of the company.