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Algeria's long-awaited metro system opens in Algiers | Algeria's long-awaited metro system opens in Algiers |
(about 11 hours later) | |
The first passengers are travelling on the long-awaited metro in Algeria's capital, Algiers - only the second of its kind in Africa. | |
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika opened the metro on Monday, at a ceremony attended by hundreds of residents keen to try out the new transport system. | |
Construction began 28 years ago, but was halted because of an economic crisis and a decade-long civil war. | |
The 6.5km (4 miles) of track has 10 stops. | |
It connects Algiers' Central Post Office to the suburb of Kouba. | |
Work began on the project in the early 1980s, but was interrupted when a collapse in worldwide oil and gas prices sent Algeria's economy into freefall. | |
The country is the world's fourth largest exporter of natural gas. | The country is the world's fourth largest exporter of natural gas. |
In the 1990s, the country descended into violence, in which government forces fought an Islamist insurgency. As many as quarter of a million people lost their lives. | In the 1990s, the country descended into violence, in which government forces fought an Islamist insurgency. As many as quarter of a million people lost their lives. |
The metro cost an estimated 90bn dinars ($1.2bn; £750m) to build. | |
A single journey will cost 50 dinars ($0.67; £0.47) - a price many Algerians have complained is too high. | |
The only other underground metro rail network in Africa is in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. |