The Algerian power, on the decision of President Tebboune, will erect in Oran a 42-meter-high statue of the Emir Abdelkader, a figure of the resistance against French colonization. Cost of the operation: more than 8 million euros. A sum that does not pass with many Algerians who are suffering from soaring prices. Back to a controversial project.
It is a divisive project. On the decision of President Tébboune, the Algerian authorities will spend an envelope of more than 1.2 billion dinars (8 million euros) to erect a giant statue 42 meters high. The monument will stand up from the end of 2024 in the heart of the port city, “on Mount Murdjadjo [or Aïdour, which culminates at 429 meters above sea level], where the fort of Santa Cruz is located” . announced the wali (prefect) of Oran, Saïd Saoud on May 24 during a press briefing.
The statue will be built next to a museum dedicated to the life of the emir. “The project also includes the realization of a balcony suspended over 20 or 25 meters. The statue will have a laser option installed at the end of the sword and will be oriented towards the qibla for prayers. The horse will be equipped with five supports as a sign of the five pillars of Islam” specified the wali.
A 42 meter high equestrian statue with laser option
Emir Abdelkader (1808-1883) remains a consensual historical figure in Algeria. Emir, religious leader, Sufi, he leads a coalition of populations of western Algeria against the conquest of Algeria by France. He created a state around the town of Tagdmet not far from Oran. He will be defeated by the French in 1847. But he is seen as one of the fathers of the Algerian nation.
We had the Bouteflika mosque with the tallest minaret in the world and we will have the tallest statue in the world with Tebboune. The Morning of Algeria.
The construction of this museum and especially of this 42-meter statue is a presidential will. She is admired by the army chief of staff, Said Chanegriha, for whom “the emir is a symbol of resistance against the forces of colonization.” Part of the Algerian press does not attack the historical figure of the emir but rather the scale of this project and a pronounced taste among certain presidents for buildings and grandiose projects.
For hospitals, research centers and other strategic infrastructure, the Algerians will wait.
“ We had the Bouteflika mosque with the tallest minaret in the world and we will have the tallest statue in the world with Tebboune,” notes the news site Le Matin d’Algérie. The statue of the emir will not be the largest in the world but the news site wonders about the question of the use of public funds.
“For hospitals, research centers and other strategic infrastructure, Algerians will wait,” said the independent news site.
The pipes of the city of Oran have not been replaced since the departure of the French in 1962. The inhabitants of the port city are victims of water cuts regularly. On social networks, a collective of inhabitants of the city is asking that the vital infrastructures of Oran be modernized.
“The idea of building this statue with 1.2 billion dinars is useless to us. On the other hand, it would be wiser to devote this budget to building [in Oran] a new city of international standard with its schools, its universities, its hospitals, its skyscrapers, its airport, its tram, etc. It would be a scientific and religious center to welcome the large African, Arab and Maghreb organizations”, asks a collective from Oran.
A resident agrees. “This money could have been invested in hospitals or the rehabilitation of run-down neighborhoods.”
Beyond the incomprehension, the project arouses the mockery of many Internet users, the laser evoking other Hollywood swords…
In the meantime, garbage collectors in the neighboring town of Masacara are still awaiting the settlement of their salary arrears.
