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Government plans for new houses get flack from the press

The Algerian press on Saturday greeted with skepticism a government building program to house the tens of thousands of people left homeless by a deadly earthquake.

"It will require a miracle for the state to meet its deadline of next winter to erase the traces of the quake and offer a roof to all the families left homeless," said the daily El Watan.

The report followed Friday's pledge by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika that "no one will spend winter under canvas" as the government announced a two-billion-euro (US$2.4 billion) building program to house the at least 80,000 people left without shelter by the quake.

"Here are the beautiful promises," said the Expression daily. "The reality, however, is more bitter."

"The only way for the government to meet the winter deadline is to `seize' buildings already completed or in the process of being completed, which are anxiously being awaited by their owners," said the Ech Chourouk newspaper.

The May 21 quake was the worst one to hit the north African country in 23 years, killing more than 2,260 people and injuring more than 10,000.

The quake and the tremors that followed destroyed completely or in part some 49 districts in the capital of Algiers and the nearby town of Boumerdes, according to the government.

Local press reports say between 100,000 and 120,000 people have been left homeless by the quake, sleeping in the open air, in tents or in cars.

In a statement Friday, the government called for the construction of some 20,000 new apartments, to be built using emergency aid to local authorities.

Construction of new housing will take up to two years, but some 3,500 homes were already available under existing social housing schemes and would be allocated to some of the homeless, the statement said.

The quake has released an avalanche of rage in Algeria -- at the government for its slow response to the emergency, and at corrupt property developers, dubbed "merchants of death", after hundreds of buildings simply collapsed in just a few short seconds.

Hundreds are assumed to have perished as emergency services turned up late or not at all, trapped in buildings that had clearly not been quake-proof, in violation of regulations on the books since 1980, when Algeria's worst quake struck killing some 3,000.

At present, the authorities are struggling desperately to find more canvas, with some of the 6,000 emergency tents set up so far now sheltering as many as 80 people each.

Bouteflika visited some of the emergency camps on Friday and said he had ordered a full review of Algeria's policies and equipment for responding to natural disasters.

Meanwhile, France said it will provide a reconstruction loan of US$35 to 59 million) to Algeria on specially favourable terms, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said on Saturday.
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