Algeria’s government has selected two consortia and one other construction firm to prequalify for the main contract to build a grand mosque in the capital.

Mr Bouabdallah Ghlamallah minister of religious affairs said that the three bids an Italian Lebanese consortium of Astaldi and the Arabian Construction Company, an Algerian and Spanish joint bid of ETRHB Haddad and COSIDER-FCC and China State Construction were chosen out of a potential 15.

The mosque, based in Mohamadia in the eastern outskirts of Algiers, will be the third largest in the world, after those in Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia. Covering 20ha, the complex will have capacity for 120,000 worshippers. In the centre of the complex will be a 300 meters tower what will be the highest minaret in the world.

The minister had stated in an April 2007 press conference that around EUR 500 million would be invested in the project. That same month, Canadian consultant Dessau Soprin was awarded a major contract of assistance to the government’s project management company, National Agency for the Construction and Management of Algiers' Mosque.

The government opened the tender process for the main contract construction in October. The criteria for qualification included a permanent staff of more than 2,000 engineers in the country, technicians and office staff with annual turnover of at least EUR 1 billionn.

(Sourced from www.constructionweekonline.com)