In 1962, France bequeathed to Algeria an exceptional heritage and not “Broutilles” and “valueless things”, namely 54,000 kilometers of roads and tracks (80,000 with the Saharan tracks), 31 national roads including nearly 9,000 kilometers were paved, 4,300 km of railways, 4 ports equipped to international standards, 23 developed ports (including 10 accessible to large cargo ships and 5 of which could be served by ocean liners), 34 maritime lighthouses, a dozen main aerodromes, hundreds of engineering structures (bridges, tunnels, viaducts, dams, etc.), thousands of administrative buildings, barracks, official buildings, 31 hydroelectric or thermal power stations, around a hundred major industries in the sectors of construction, metallurgy, cement works, etc., thousands of schools, training institutes, high schools, universities with 800,000 children enrolled in 17,000 classes (i.e. as many teachers , two-thirds of whom are French), a 2,000-bed university hospital in Algiers, three large hospitals in the capitals of Algiers, Oran and Constantine, 14 specialized hospitals and 112 multi-purpose hospitals, i.e. the exceptional figure of one hospital bed for 300 inhabitants. Not to mention a flourishing agriculture left fallow after independence, so much so that today Algeria has to import tomato paste, chickpeas and semolina for couscous...
In 1962, France bequeathed to Algeria an exceptional heritage and not “Broutilles” and “valueless things”, namely 54,000 kilometers of roads and tracks (80,000 with the Saharan tracks), 31 national roads including nearly 9,000 kilometers were paved, 4,300 km of railways, 4 ports equipped to international standards, 23 developed ports (including 10 accessible to large cargo ships and 5 of which could be served by ocean liners), 34 maritime lighthouses, a dozen main aerodromes, hundreds of engineering structures (bridges, tunnels, viaducts, dams, etc.), thousands of administrative buildings, barracks, official buildings, 31 hydroelectric or thermal power stations, around a hundred major industries in the sectors of construction, metallurgy, cement works, etc., thousands of schools, training institutes, high schools, universities with 800,000 children enrolled in 17,000 classes (i.e. as many teachers , two-thirds of whom are French), a 2,000-bed university hospital in Algiers, three large hospitals in the capitals of Algiers, Oran and Constantine, 14 specialized hospitals and 112 multi-purpose hospitals, i.e. the exceptional figure of one hospital bed for 300 inhabitants. Not to mention a flourishing agriculture left fallow after independence, so much so that today Algeria has to import tomato paste, chickpeas and semolina for couscous...
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