Longest tunnel in North Africa finished by Chinese company

The tunneling work of the 14.68-kilometer Ganntas Tunnel in Algeria, the longest tunnel in North Africa, has been completed on Oct. 30.

The tunnel is part of a coastal railway in the north of the country, connecting nine ports and 22 provinces, home to over half of the nation’s population.

The coastal railway was built in the late 19th century, meandering through the mountains. It takes more than four hours to travel from Algiers to Oran, about 400 km apart.

After the upgrade is complete, the traveling time between the two cities will be shortened to about two hours. The Ganntas Tunnel is one of the most challenging parts of the renovation works.

Dubbed the “disaster for engineers” due to its complicated marlstone and geological conditions, the Ganntas Tunnel project discourage construction enterprises from Japan, Italy and Turkey. Algeria also lacks basic construction materials and machinery apart from stones.

It took over six years for the China Railway Construction Corporation to tunnel through the rock, using its own technology.

The construction project created 2,450 jobs for locals. The engineers and workers of CRCC won the local inhabitants’ recognition with their professionalism, commitment and perseverance.