Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune inaugurated a nearly 1,000-kilometre (621-mile) desert railway to transport iron ore from a giant mine, one of the longest in the country.
The line will bring iron ore from the Gara Djebilet deposit in the south to the city of Bechar located 950 kilometres north, to be taken to a steel production plant near Oran further north.
The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium, according to AFP.
During the inauguration, Tebboune hailed "the completion of a strategic and historic national achievement, long spoken of as a distant dream".
This project aims to increase Algeria's iron ore extraction capacity, as the country aspires to become one of Africa's leading steel producers.
The iron ore deposit is also seen as a key driver of Algeria's economic diversification as it seeks to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbons, according to experts.
President Tebboune attended an inauguration ceremony in Bechar, welcoming the first passenger train from Tindouf in southern Algeria and sending towards the north a first charge of iron ore, according to footage broadcast on national television.
The mine is expected to produce four million tonnes per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tonnes per year by 2030, according to estimates by the state-owned Feraal Group, which manages the site.
It is then expected to reach 50 million tonnes per year in the long term, it said.
The start of operations at the mine will allow Algeria to drastically reduce its iron ore imports and save $1.2 billion per year, according to Algerian media.
