ALGER – Ali Aoun, the Minister of Industry and Pharmaceutical Production, emphasized on Tuesday in Algiers the need to intensify efforts to enhance governance and increase steel production by harnessing all available capacities. He also stressed the urgency of accelerating the pace of completion for stalled projects within the IMETAL group.
During the official installation of IMETAL’s CEO, Djamel Babouri, in the presence of ministry and group officials, the Minister provided a set of directives to all managers within the group and its affiliated companies. These directions primarily revolved around improving governance performance, increasing production through the utilization of all available resources, and speeding up the completion of halted projects.
In this context, Mr. Aoun urged everyone to “mobilize and make all necessary efforts to elevate the sector to the level expected by the public authorities, with a requirement to adhere to the designated deadlines.” He emphasized the adoption of performance contracts and the implementation of “clear objectives subject to control and accountability starting from September next year.”
The Minister also highlighted IMETAL’s action plan, including “the restructuring of certain subsidiary organigrams.” He affirmed that the primary mission of the new CEO was to “review the structure of boards of directors.”
When asked about the metallurgical and steel sector’s development strategy, the Minister referenced the Government’s plan, aligned with the directives of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to connect mines to raw material transformation sites via railway, akin to the Gara Djebilet mine.
This strategy also aims to connect these industrial sites across different provinces of the country. In this context, the Minister mentioned the commissioning of the Gara Djebilet mine by the Energy and Mines sector with the Chinese partner. He highlighted that the Public Works and Basic Infrastructure sector had already initiated studies and defined the trajectory connecting this mine to transformation plants by 2024.
The implementation of these projects will enable Algeria to establish a “robust” steel industry and create job opportunities, the Minister emphasized. He commended the El Hadjar complex in Annaba for “making significant efforts and even engaging in export operations.”
On his part, the new IMETAL CEO committed to “spare no effort in coordination with all executives and workers to infuse new momentum into the group and achieve the expected goals within the Group’s strategic vision for 2030.”
He also acknowledged the effort made by the group and its subsidiaries in terms of “renovation, growth, and development,” with the aim of achieving added value and consequently yielding better results.
It’s noteworthy that IMETAL group and its subsidiaries engage in various fields including steel and metallurgy, steel transformations, boiler-making, metal construction, engineering, and training.