First subway line to open in Algerian capital soon

RABAT, August 14 (Itar-Tass) -- The countdown has begun to the day and
hour when Algeria's capital Rabat will join the list of world cities
having metro lines.
As the news agency APS reported on Friday, the construction of the
city's first subway line has been completed. According to Transport
Minister Amar Tou, it "will be put into operation as soon as a number of
issues related to security have been resolved."
The first 9.5-kilometer-line will have 10 stations. It will connect
the center of the Algerian capital city with a suburb. It is expected that
the subway's launch will positively affect the work of all public
transport in the city. In the future, the authorities plan to build more
subway lines and to increase the network's length several times.
Algeria had its first metro line project back in the 1970s. Its
implementation was repeatedly suspended and postponed because of funding
problems, as well as exacerbation of the political situation in the
country, caused by an armed conflict between the authorities and Islamic
radicals.
Algeria will become Africa's second city after Cairo with this type of
urban transport.