On February 3rd a decree signed by Prime Minister Aïmene Benabderrahmane announced the cancellation of a project to build a Cité du Cinéma in Algiers’ Ben Aknoun Park. The government has not justified their decision, which comes just two weeks after the signature of the decree validating the project.
Initially the Cité du Cinéma was a response to the Algerian President’s directives about promoting and developing Algerian films. The purpose of the original decree was “to remove from the national forestry register a plot of land in Algiers, currently a zoological and leisure park, in order to construct Cinema City.” The CIC (Centre national de l’industrie cinématographique) were tasked with managing the site.
But although this Cité was considered by some as a way of increasing Algeria’s international influence, it also caused controversy in certain media. According to the newspaper Liberté: “voices have been raised against setting up a cinema city in Ben Aknoun Park.” The park – which includes an amusement park, a zoo and 200 hectares of forest – is considered “one of the capital’s few lungs.”
This is not the first time the park has been the subject of controversy. In December 2020 another newspaper El Watan reported an “alarming finding” about management conditions and the state of the park, “an opinion” the article tells us“widely shared on social networks.” Environmental associations in particular had alerted the public authorities. Even though the decree allowing Cinema City provided for the preservation of wooded areas, this change of heart illustrates the park’s importance for Algiers’ residents.
Sources : DIA, Liberté, Maghreb Info, L’Expression, El Watan
