Volume 8 / Numéro 18

Hiver 2018
ISSN : 2247 - 2290
p. 149-168

DJEN DJEN NEW PORT AND THE

METROPOLISATION OF JIJEL CITY (ALGERIA)

Yasmine BOUHELOUF-BERRETIMA, Ali HADJIEDJ

University of Science and Technology Houari-Boumediene. Algiers- Algeria

yasmine.berretima@gmail.com

Sommaire:

1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................... 151

2. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................... 152
3. RESULTS AND DESCUSION .......................................................................................................................... 152
2.1 The medium-sized port city: the difficulty of classification ................................................... 152
2.2 A medium port city and a metropolis: any overlapping? ........................................................ 153
2.3 Attractiveness strategies of port cities; towards a process of Metropolisation......... 154
2.4 Jijel: medium-sized port city, towards regional Metropolisation ........................................ 155
2.4. a Presentation of the Commercial Port Djen Djen Port World ............................................. 155
2.4. b Prospects for the Development of the Djen Djen Port ......................................................... 158
2.4. c Metropolisation Process in Jijel ..................................................................................................... 159
4. CONCLUSIONS................................................................................................................................................... 166
5. REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................................... 167

Citer ce document:
BOUHELOUF-BERRETIMA, Y., HADJIEDJ, A., et al. 2018. Djen Djen new port and the
metropolisation of Jijel city (Algeria). Cinq Continents 8 (18): 149-168
 Cinq Continents Volume 8, Numéro 18, 2018, p. 149-168

Djen Djen new port and the metropolisation of Jijel City (Algeria)

Yasmine Bouhelouf-Berretima, Ali Hadjiedj

Le nouveau port de Djen Djen et la métropolisation de la ville

de Jijel (ALGERIE) : Si l’expression « ville moyenne » regroupe des
catégories de villes très hétérogènes, notre étude sur la ville de Jijel
(Algérie) s’interrogerait sur la dimension de cette agglomération,
de taille moyenne (120 000 habitants) et présente des
caractéristiques qui la surclasse dans la hiérarchie urbaine en
raison des atouts existants et de l’envergure des investissements
actuels notamment son port international (Djen Djen). A ce
développement d’infrastructures, s’ajoute son attractivité
touristique en comparaison avec d’autres villes algériennes qui
souffrent de la stagnation de ce secteur. Notre article s’appuiera
essentiellement sur une vision prospective du devenir urbain,
économique et social de territoire de cette ville moyenne qui
devrait retrouver ses performances du développement et
d’attractivité dans la réalisation de ses infrastructures portuaires et
de son potentiel latent.

Mots clés: Attractivité, Port mondial, Processus de

métropolisation, ville portuaire moyenne.

Djen djen New Port and the Metropolisation of Jijel City

(ALGERIA): If the term "medium-sized city" includes very
heterogeneous categories of cities, our study on the city of Jijel
(Algeria) would wonder about the size of this town of an average
size (120,000 inhabitants) and sets out characteristics that
outclasses it in the urban hierarchy because of its existing assets
and the scale of current investments, particularly its international
port (Djen djen). In addition to this infrastructure development, it
is also attractive for tourists in comparison to other Algerian cities
that suffer from the stagnation of this sector. Our article will
emphasize mainly on a prospective vision of the urban, economic
and social future of this medium sized city, which should regain its
development and attractiveness performances in the achievement
of its port infrastructures and latent potential.

Keywords: Attractiveness, Global port, Metropolisation, process

Medium port city
 Y. BOUHELOUF-BERRTEMA, A. HADJIEDJD

1. INTRODUCTION

Globalization is a dynamic process with a deep geohistorical anchorage,

presenting a continuous evolution in time which, through its process of urbanization,
undergoes a transformation from a hierarchical form to that of the network. In this
context, port cities are becoming essential interfaces for new territories that are part
of this dynamic of openness and international mobility. As a result, cities today have
become crucial centers for responding to the new phenomenon of international
mobility.
The renewed interest in these cities is becoming increasingly important, as well
as the development of their attractiveness and competitiveness, which has become a
major challenge for the actors who have to strive in increasing the port performance
through the improvement of the main characteristics of the port as the first asset of
attractiveness for these port cities. This is despite the pessimistic approach that calls
into question the systematic benefits of port investments and the structuring effect of
port transport infrastructure. As a result, the local and regional benefits of port growth
remain limited in ports which are remote from economic and urban concentrations.
(Fremont, 2010).
A rather optimistic approach defines ports as growth poles that allow
productive and commercial activities to achieve economies of scale, providing cities
and regions with a sustainable comparative advantage (Fujita, Mori, 1996). From then
on, the port is generating concentration and transformation of wealth, thus ensuring
the development of territories as part of the process of metropolisation of these cities.
This classic concept based on the theories of economic location indicates that the port
efficiency can increase benefits as well as traffic itself, while "inefficient ports (...) may
further away a country or a region from the resources or the markers necessary for
productions. (Haddad et al., 2005).
In this conceptual perspective, Algeria, with its long maritime coastline of 1200
km and 11 commercial (MATE, 2008) ports, has become aware of the important role of
a port city within this network. Consequently, the public authorities realized that the
way towards globalization inevitably requires efforts to upgrade and modernize ports.
The investment and the scheduling of actions and projects in modernizing existing
installations is, thus, a vital economic issue.
Yet, due to the difficulty of creating new deep-water ports, Algeria has opted for
the improvement of its existing ports. As a short term strategy, the trusteeship speaks
of" optimization "of what already exists. According to officials, the country “can double
or even triple the capacity of our ports and only by upgrading their facilities and
improving their management systems” (M' hareb, 2006). Algeria's approach to
integrating the context of globalization from the port and maritime perspectives is a

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new approach that is well detailed in its port master plan by 2025.
A programme developed at a time as 95% of international trade is carried out
by sea from the ports of Oran, Annaba, Mostaghanem and Bejaia, at a cost of 1.1 billion
Euros. But the most important project is the expansion of the port of Djendjen to
become an international hub in the medium term and a direct competitor of
Tangier Med and Enfidha (future Tunisian hub under construction). (Setti et al., 2013).
Thus in terms of space and deep water, the port of Djen Djen for the wilaya of Jijel is
considered as the most important port work in the Mediterranean. As an international
hub and pole of attractiveness, could this project be an important driving force for the
development of the Jijilian territory? Could it classify this Algerian Mediterranean city
as one of the regional growth poles? What are the potentialities on which this port can
rely to achieve this Mediterranean growth objective? In other words: How might the
existing potential contribute with the port to achieve this goal?

2. METHODOLOGY

In order to provide an answer to the initial problematic, we opted for a

deductive and multidisciplinary approach. Quantitative and qualitative methods are
used in the collection and analysis of collected data. We suggest to analyze the possible
impacts of the port of Djen Djen on the economic development of this city and the
organization of its local and regional urban space. The objective is to demonstrate the
relation between the presence and the development of the port activity through the
construction of attractiveness elements, as triggers for a process of Metropolisation in
the medium-sized port city. Our analysis is supported by fieldwork, conducted between
February and June 2016. Interviews carried out with different actors of the interface,
mainly officials from several institutions and executives of the main port operator; an
empirical investigation, supplemented by a bibliographical and documentary research
on town planning and regional planning inspired by our observations on the ground.

3. RESULTS AND DESCUSION

2.1 The medium-sized port city: the difficulty of classification

Many concepts throughout social sciences vary in their definition and contents
from one discipline to another, but few concepts face such a lack of definition as the
port city (Chaline, 1993).
Recognizing this category is not an easy task. Previous works on the topic show
that there is no agreement on its definition. Roger Brunet (1997) stated that such a task
is similar to: "dealing with an unidentified real object" or not. Experts even questioned
 Y. BOUHELOUF-BERRTEMA, A. HADJIEDJD

whether it is such a "special category of cities" (Chaline, 1994) that calls for a "specific
methodology" (Morvan, 1999 in Ducruet, 2004).
The simplest definitions converge in defining the port city simply as a city
exerting port and maritime activities. It is also considered as a communication node
between land and maritime networks developing auxiliary activities and having a
strong influence on the spatial organization of the outlying region (Brocard, 1994).
Among them, geographers define the port city in a very simple and descriptive
way before finding the material to feed innovative reflections of this city. It is
considered as a "city whose main economic activity is based on the exploitation of
maritime traffic, the port providing the technical interface essential to this
relationship»(Borruey,1992). In his book on graphical models in geography, Ferras
(1993) mentioned that this city is "unique by its port; double by its maritime and
terrestrial activities, triple by the fishing village maintained, the activities related to the
port and exchange, and those resulting from the management and services offered"
(Ferras,1993).

2.2 A medium port city and a metropolis: any overlapping?

Beyond this reinforced urbanity, would there not be forms of paralleling
between the concepts of a medium-sized port city and a metropolis? On the one hand,
the port city would have attractiveness comparable in scale to that of a metropolis, and
on the other hand, because it’s economic attractiveness would have a strong
metropolitan component.
The port city is a special system whose components have a weight, a variable
role in space and time. Adding to these characteristics is the centrality, nodality,
uniqueness1, diversity and specification of activities. Openness and connection are two
spatial and functional characteristics of an average port-city, which is in equation with
the criteria of Metropolisation rather than with the characteristics of the metropolises.
Moreover, tertiary activities, both at a high level (management sites, decision-making,
and development) and at a more mundane level (distribution, reception) evolve
according to port traffic, the intensity of flows between land and sea (Chaline, 1994).
The tertiary activities combined together, generate the intensity of material flows of
active populations, visitors and tourists, a mixture that leads to a real demographic and
intangible dynamism (capitals, information)". These high-level functions give the city
a leading role and global influence over an extensive territory, a state that is
synonymous of Metropolisation.

1A Term used in chemistry, it comes from network, which gives the reticular adjective, and can be interpreted as the
property of a place or a space to create the network or to be a part of a network.

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2.3 Attractiveness strategies of port cities; towards a process of

Metropolisation
If the metropolitanization is essentially defined by two parameters: the growth
and concentration of people, urban functions at the highest qualitative level of
command activities in the most diverse fields, it also contributes to the control of space,
and relies on its influence over a relatively large continuous territory. The port offers
this opportunity to the concentration of people, and functions in the city. Its permanent
growth creates an urban and regional development which is transformed into a
metropolitan growth, considering what the port and the port activity can generate on
the economic and urban level through one or the following three scenarios:
• Port, economic attractiveness (production, consumption, trade), economic
centrality, Metropolisation: The port area has been an exceptional resource over
the centuries, offering considerable potential for the promotion and the
development of a large number of economic activities (production,
consumption, trade) whose impacts on the life of the city have been and are still
very often decisive. (Frémont, 2010).
• Port, tourism, new centrality, Metropolisation: Tourism is qualified among the
"strategic and commanding" metropolitan functions. Anxious to "metropolis",
some port cities in the world highlight their ports in the tourism sector through
the mobilization of the port as a cultural product, identity (port heritage) (Baziz
et al., 2015). Hoping to initiate a movement of economic and social
concentration that allows them to assert their identity, or even internationally.
• Port, industry, productive territories, Metropolisation: the port territories are
territories favorable to the establishment of industrial zones. This economic
dynamic resulting from port development that transforms a city into complex
movements; attractiveness of investors and companies, spatial reorganization,
diversification of activities and functions, development of networks, increased
flows (transport, technology, tourism) inserting the city in a process of
Metropolisation.
It is for this reason that in addition to its instrumental function, the port has an
inter-organizational and strategic dimension, this infrastructure is at the heart of the
constantly renewed attractiveness strategies to develop and maintain an attractive
port destination; territorial marketing, branding, events, the development of tourism
via consumer and social spaces; such as the Tangier Port Area Reconversion Project in
Morocco. Port clusters2 (such as Port of Portsmouth, Port of Dover Port of Saint-Brieuc

2
Port Services Cluster: This type of cluster is associated with the expansion of port services such as pilotage, towing,
mooring, dredging, bunkering, vessel handling, maintenance and repair, passengers and storage. Research has shown
that, in the ports studied; these services are provided by ports or outsourced. This type of cluster reinforces the port's
 Y. BOUHELOUF-BERRTEMA, A. HADJIEDJD

in the Manche region in France), the development of territorial offer including

economic (Business real estate, telecommunications infrastructure, neighborhood of
such as the Euroméditerranée project in Marseille. And finally, the urban project which
is the instrument par excellence to give a new qualification to the territories and a new
face to the port city, such as the redevelopment of the waterfront.
This built attractiveness generates a cumulative concentration of human
(population) and material wealth (a concentration of economic activities, skilled jobs),
innovation and research, the evolution of the productive system and the redistribution
of employment categories. an economic centrality, as well as a global influence over an
extended territory that results in Metropolisation.

2.4 Jijel: medium-sized port city, towards regional Metropolisation

With more than 634,412 inhabitants, Jijel is a middle-sized city located between
the sea in the north, Skikda city in the east, Bejaia in the west and Setif and Mila in the
south (Figure 01). It is only 30 minutes flight from the capital Algiers and one hour from
Barcelona, Naples and Marseilles. It spreads over an area of 2,577 km², with a seafront
of 120 km. The Wilaya (prefecture) of Jijel has a specific geographical position that
relates the coastline to a mountain range, which is both strong elements of
attractiveness for residence and tourism). It allows the city to play a pivotal role in
trade at national and international levels.
These natural potentials are of interest to both investors and decision-makers.
Multiple infrastructures and structuring facilities and promising projects are being
scheduled for the short and long terms. The strategy consists of raising this medium
port city to the rank of a great pole of the North-East Algerian territory. The pole will
promote tourism, business and industry and thus extends the existing urban
infrastructure. (CENEAP, 2011).

2.4. a Presentation of the Commercial Port Djen Djen Port World

A port from its commercial destination, the port of Djen Djen is implanted outside
de city on a vast area estimated to 120 ha, with an extra-port future zone extension on
about 40ha. Djen Djen, the new port is located in the East of Algeria at a distance of
approximately 50 miles from the shipping route linking the Suez Canal to the Strait of
Gibraltar. It is also 10 km away from the capital of the Jijel department, 350 km east of
Algiers; 40 km from the industrial zone of Bellara, and 900 km from Hassi-Messaoud Oil
station (Figure 02).

role in the region, and provides multiple services to port users, generating additional revenue and creating jobs for the
local population.

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Figure 1. Geographical location of the city of Jijel (AIDAT, MESSACI.2017)

Its accessibility is ensured by a highway linking Jijel to Constantine, a line that

is being widened, and a rail that relates Jijel to Ramdane Djamel. Its hinterland extends
to the territory of the 4 regional departments that are Jijel itself, Mila, Bordj Bou
Arréridj and Setif. In a larger region, it may reach other departments, mainly M' sila
and the Eastern Highlands.
As part of an expansion project, the port was first scheduled during the 1970’s
as a means of generating regional development in the eastern part of the country.
However, the construction works have not started until 1984.
The port was finally completed in 1992. It is the only commercial port built in
Algeria after its independence. It is considered as the most important one in the
Mediterranean in terms of the water’s space and depth.
The scale of this port infrastructure is difficult to adapt to the local context. The
port continues to represent the symbol of economic development but a scale of
importance beyond the city. Table 1 gives some of its characteristics.
 Y. BOUHELOUF-BERRTEMA, A. HADJIEDJD

Figure 2: Location port of Djen Djen (www.djendjen-port.com)

Table 1. The characteristics of the Djen Djen port (Journal Djen Djen port. N°09. TR2.2015
available on www.djendjen-port.com)

Elements Characteristics in numbers

Reception Capacity 4,5 Million tons/year.
Steel Quay 3 Million tons/year.
Commercial Quays 1,5 Million tons/yeat (Container terminal that can
(3) accommodate second-generation boats, Road terminal, Cargo
General Wharf).
The water tie rods important up to less than 18 m.
Solid lands large scale of 104 ha with a possibility of extension in extra
port area with an area of 27 ha.
Storage sheds (9.000 m2).
water platforms deep to accommodate ships of 120,000 t.
Handling equipment polyvalent
The naval machines of great power.
Door on a quay of 200 linear meters and an area of 14 ha
The container 100,000 boxes /year, today
terminal processes 1,5 million of EVP

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This port (Figure 3) is located in an off-centre area bordered by a land reserve

of several hundred hectares dedicated to future logistics zones that will be erected as
a support for transhipment activity. This important port, whose capacity is far from
being used at cruising speed, has important infrastructures that can meet the modern
requirements of national and international maritime transport.

Figure 3. View on the port of Djen Djen ( www.djendjen-port.com)

2.4. b Prospects for the Development of the Djen Djen Port

In a statement to the press, former Transport Minister Amar Ghoul, during his
visit to Jijel on May, 18th, 2014 stressed that "the hopes placed in this port that will
serve as a link between Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Thanks to the container
terminal, which, once on service, will be able to process nearly 2 million TEUs (twenty
feet equivalent) per year, a traffic that will eventually double in number" (El
moudjahid,2014).
The port will cost 500 million euros spread over 30 years, will have an
additional space of 78 hectares with a capacity of 2 million TEUs (Figure 4). Beyond the
transhipment function, the port aims at expanding its hinterland services to
neighbouring countries, particularly Niger. Several advantages, such as the
construction of the penetrating motorway linking the port to the East-West motorway
and the connection to the Trans-Saharan road, are in its favour (Mohamed chérif &
Ducruet, 2011).
This port could also become the gateway to sub-Saharan Africa, especially since
the French nuclear group Areva has been studying the possibility of evacuating
uranium extracted to Imouraren in northern Niger. With all this willingness for
development, Djendjen becomes an asset and a wealth for the Jijilian territory that
 Y. BOUHELOUF-BERRTEMA, A. HADJIEDJD

Figure 4. The Djen Djen Port Expansion Project (www.djendjen-port.com)

would propel in the future its attractiveness, competitiveness and socio-economic

development as the General Director of this port Mr Abderrezak Sallami states.3

2.4. c Metropolisation Process in Jijel

• What links between attractiveness and Metropolisation?
Before demonstrating the potential of this medium-sized port city, its role in the
development of territorial attractiveness and the initiation of its Metropolisation
process, it is necessary to propose some elements briefly presenting the fundamental
principles of each type of attractiveness, mainly tourism, housing and economics, a
useful set for Metropolisation. This is a phenomenon of polarization and economic
concentration in the urban area where agglomeration economies are developing in
order to increase productivity. This logic manifests in the concentration of new
diversified activities, particularly in production, finance and trade. (Abrantes, 2011).
Thus, attractiveness can be defined as "the capacity of a territory to attract and
retain businesses or even inhabitants and, more generally, mobile factors of production:
capital and highly qualified labour». (Hatem, 2004)
Attractiveness is composed of several sectors among which: touristic, economic,
residential, environmental and cultural. Each fraction can be assessed on the basis of
indicators that allow the performance of a territory to be measured, which are
determinants of attractiveness, qualified as factors on which the territory can act4.
(Table 02).

3 Interview conducted on February 15, 2016

4 ADEUS indicators– 04/2013

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Table 2. Criteria for the different fractions of attractiveness. (Authors)

Attractiveness Indicators of the Indicators of tourist Indicators of

indicators for attractiveness of skills and attractiveness residential
investors and researchers attractiveness
enterprises
Condition of Support for the knowledge- Natural resources Economic dynamics
establishment based economy (sea, forests, (employment, sectors
Landscapes, etc.) of activity, etc.)
Accessibility, Accessibility, Transport and Accessibility, Accessibility, Transport
Transport and adapted mobility offer Transport and and adapted mobility
adapted mobility adapted mobility offer
offer offer
Connectivity (TIC, Research infrastructures Cultural Resources Social conditions
etc.) (research laboratories, (safety, social
universities, training cohesion, cost of
centres, etc.) living, etc.)
Structuring Tourism Climate and natural
equipment Infrastructure environment
Offer
Demography and Development of research Image of the city Supply of housing
Population and new technologies and social, sanitary
and cultural
equipment
Quality of the Quality of the living Quality of the Quality urban
living environment environment living environment planning (EP, EV,
built environment,
etc.)

The relationship between attractiveness and Metropolisation shows a certain

similarity and interaction that can be seen even in the analysis of their factors of
emergence and development (Figure 05 and 06). If attractiveness is the result of the
interaction of three factors: industrial globalization, financial globalization and
economic polarization as a mode of organization of firms, one can deduce that
metropolisation is also the consequence of the concentration of human and material
wealth, both conjugated with contemporary urbanization and globalization.
Economists consider that territorial attractiveness is a lever of Metropolisation
insofar as it is triggered by the concentration of human capital and economic
investment. On the other hand, urban planners believe that the two terms mutually
nourish each other and that Metropolisation is a cumulative process that manifests in
the concentration of wealth, activities and functional supply of populations. From this,
it can be said that "Metropolisation and attractiveness" are closely linked:
attractiveness is the product of Metropolisation, and vice versa.
 Y. BOUHELOUF-BERRTEMA, A. HADJIEDJD

Figure 5. Attractiveness is the interaction between three factors

(Author, as defined by PIERRE VELTZ, 2004).

Figure 6: Metropolisation is the interaction between three factors. (Authors)

• The port city of Jijel: Attractiveness potential and Metropolisation process

The port of Djen Djen is a key element in the development of economic
attractiveness, through a dynamic generated by the intensity of its activity which
contributes to develop new attractions especially for people and skills accentuating
tourism activity. On this subject, Jungyoun Park says that "a territory can attract the
different targets of attraction thanks to certain factors of attractiveness that it possesses
and these factors interact in a complex way. Also, some of the attracted targets may help

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to create new attractions in this area. Finally, this dynamic of targets and factors forms
the overall attractiveness of this territory. (Park, 2008).
Based on this observation, we will try to explain in four points the relationship
between the triptychs (Port-attractiveness-Metropolisation) of the city of Jijel.
1. The port's activity has led to the reinforcement and modernisation of
communications and transport routes. In this sense, many road projects and
infrastructures have been launched such as:
• Internationalisation of the airport.
• Modernisation of the railway line.
• The duplication of the common road to Constantine and Bejaia.
• The motorway overhangs to Setif, called "Penetrating the East-West
motorway Djen Djen -El Eulma" (Figure 7), which is intended to connect
this strategic structure to the port of Djendjen.

Figure 7. The penetrating project at the East-West Highway Djen Djen-Setif.

(Jijel Public Works Department)

The aim of the new roads network is to ensure that the port is connected to a
wider hinterland. It will certainly open up the city, and tackle the underdevelopment
and territorial imbalance of the last 20 years. In this sense, D. Banister et al. states that
"major transport infrastructures, such as railways, airports and international ports, all
have a substantial effect on local traffic, employment and the local economy. Apart from
direct employment in transport activities, these infrastructures have important multiplier
effects because they are used by many firms and industries” (Banister, Lichfield, 1995).
Similarly, the port city is considered as "a traffic node at the interface of maritime and
terrestrial networks". (Brocard, 1994). It goes without saying that projects to improve
accessibility in the city of Jijel also contribute to the promotion of several activities:
 Y. BOUHELOUF-BERRTEMA, A. HADJIEDJD

trade, services, agriculture and the promotion of tourist activities. Indeed, the
advantage of accessibility by bringing together different natural potentialities can
increase attractiveness if local authorities improve the quantity and quality of the host
supply 5.
2. The port of Djen Djen thus encourages public and private investments,
particularly in new technologies and raises ranges of services by proposing
value-added services. It also helps to stimulate the existing production apparatus,
inviting players in the industrial sector to propose new activities. This is the
reason that made the local authorities revive the Ballara steel complex project
(Figure 8), which had been frozen for a long time for political and economic
reasons.

Figure 8. Project model of the Ballara steel complex in 2013 (Jijel.info.dz)

The example of the city of Jijel reminds us of the port cities in Western Europe,
when the birth of large chemical, steel and petrochemical complexes became an
important phase in the development of the port as a strategic place of commerce. This
was the phase of the' ship in the factory' which, like the coalfields of the first industrial
revolution, quickly attracted jobs and transport infrastructure. The example of
Germany is a perfect illustration of this shift towards coastal centrality: the population
of port cities has grown faster than that of non-port cities during the period in question.
(Ducruet, 2004)
Thanks to its large capacity, the port of Djen Djen, together with the Ballara
zone, constitute a growth pole an economic engine with a regional dimension for the
city of Jijel. According to the director of industry, this bipole will create more than
100,000 direct and indirect jobs6. Attracting executives in management, banking and a

5Interview with the director of tourism of Jijel. March 23,2016

6Ports generate jobs more beyond their dedicated spaces and their motor sectors, especially in public
works, building, business services, including the redistribution of wages in the local economy.

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skilled labour force, as well as young researchers, notably with the presence of three
university poles and research laboratories will be another output. Such a situation
encourages local authorities to improve the territorial offer in terms of housing, social
and health facilities, cultural facilities, education, health, public administration, and
improve the quality of its urban planning. Attractiveness of people and skills to the
emerging port city will also be enhanced by its exceptional natural environment, mild
climate, and the security of goods and people7.
3. The development of port and industrial activity also leads to a concentration of
high-value activities and services added to companies such as banks, head offices,
insurance, the speed of ICT8, etc.). But it is also difficult to promote the
attractiveness of the higher tertiary sector before resolving, or at least making
significant progress on other points. Improving the city's urban environment
(restructuring urban and public spaces, rehabilitation of buildings, reclamation
of existing urban wastelands) and land shortage for services and office activities
is a challenge to outcome.
4. Beyond the improved territorial offer, the maritime, coastal and port character of
the city and its exceptional natural heritage are also values to be mobilised for
the construction of a brand image as the basis / lever of a marketing strategy for
this city.
The model below shows how a port is at the origin of the development of the
attractiveness of this city. According to A. Vallega, there is indeed an effect of port
activity on centrality; a major characteristic of Metropolisation. Since then, the port
city has progressed in its level of services offered, both in terms of production, services
(IT, law, management, finance, insurance, etc.) and R&D9. This encourages the
attractiveness of people, capital; firms, large facilities and jobs that will be polarized
and diversified, allowing the city of Jijel to develop and assume a central command
function often present in other metropolises (Figure 9).

7 According to data of the wilaya’s direction of security (prefecture)

8 ICT: Information and Communication Technology.
9 Research and Development
 Y. BOUHELOUF-BERRTEMA, A. HADJIEDJD

Figure 9. The impact of the port on the city: from the port city to the port metropolis. (Authors)

For these reasons "the port was the first vector of its urbanization. Thus, it
remains the bridgehead of extra-sea trade and gives the city a special attraction
throughout the Mediterranean basin ". (Chenaoui, 2000) Applied to Jijel, city-port
relationships are part of a series of interactions, which can be schematised, at the
extreme, in the following way:
• Warehouse trade and port growth;
• Port growth →Capital attraction and industrialisation
• Industrialisation, concentration of services and economic development,
• Economic development → Population growth (populations) → Curban
growth; a synonymous with Metropolisation
In our conclusion, we can refer to M. E.'s pioneering study Witherick (1981)
which proposes a model of a city-port relationship on the theme of urban growth
through the port. The idea is that the five sectors are directly or indirectly linked to the
port provides part of the city's employment (Figure 10), leading to the development of
other sectors that are not linked to the port (Ducruet, 2004)

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Figure 10. A model of port city economic relations at employment level (Ducruet. 2004)

4. CONCLUSIONS

While in many countries, the main city is on the seaside and the dominant cities
are very often developed from ports (M. Fujita et al. 1996 in Ducruet 2004), the local
authorities of the city of Jijel, especially the port director, acknowledge that: "The port
of Djen Djen is a message of hope for the development of the city"10. The person in
charge adds that port activities will change the nature of this medium-sized city in the
urban framework and allow it to be integrated into a regional urban system, affirming
its geo-economic position and its role as a pilot in the region. This international port
participates in the structuring and organization of this city's space, particularly
through its territorial infrastructures (industrial complex, touristic activity, university
center, and other resources, etc.). According to the future evolutions that the
development of this global port can bring about, we can foresee the premises for a
Metropolisation of Jijel in the process of development, without neglecting the
demographic and economic polarization, the spatial extension of this territory and the
changes in the productive apparatus; an infrastructure programme, revealing the
existence of a Metropolisation process for this.

10 Interview with the director of the port Djen Djen

 Y. BOUHELOUF-BERRTEMA, A. HADJIEDJD

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