Entrepreneurs, contractors, public works in the Maghreb and the Middle East from the 1860s to the 1940s

Entrepreneurs, entreprises et travaux publics au Maghreb et au Moyen-Orient des années 1860 aux années 1940

Dominique Barjot

p. 13-17


Texte intégral

1860-1914: From Egypt and Algeria to the entire Arab-Muslim world

1Essentially, the major works of French contracting companies and contractors in the Maghreb and the Middle East began in the late 1850s and early 1860s.

2Two geographical areas attracted them first: Egypt and Algeria. In the former, the arrival of contractors was prepared by that of engineers. The major event was the construction of the Suez Canal. Works began in 1859, but the contractors arrived in 1862: Paul Borel and Alexandre Lavalley and their bucket dredgers; Alphonse Couvreux and his digger; and the brothers Élie and Elzéard Dussaud with their cranes, used to build the facilities at Port Said. Thanks to them, the canal was finished in 1869. They introduced a new generation of engineers. Alexandre Prompt and Jules Barois directed the hydraulic development of the Nile Valley during the 1880s and 1890s. Then came Laurent-Louis Godard, technical advisor to the Minister for Public Works, from 1908 to 1911. He opened the way to the Établissements Schneider, whose head of Public Works, Charles Laroche, gave the port of Alexandria a new berthing pier in 1913. Nevertheless, the most active French company was undoubtedly the Société des Grands Travaux de Marseille (GTM). Benefitting from its alliance with the Almagià brothers’ firm, from Rome, it carried out major dredging at Suez (1903 and 1905), Port Said (1905), and Alexandria (1909). Spurred by Charles Rebuffel, their chief manager, the GTM then made an alliance with Schneider et Cie.

3In Algeria, Antoine Castor, Hildevert Hersent, and Joseph Lesueur very soon began to compete with the Dussaud brothers. The three partners built the bridges of Duvivier and Bougie in 1860, then tackled the construction of the ports of Philippeville in 1863 and of Bône in 1867. Their most important works nevertheless remain the breakwater and quay walls at Philippeville, from 1883 to 1892. At that time, Ernest Goüin was already involved with the construction of the railway from Bône to Guelma from 1876. At the turn of the century, between 1899 and 1905, the Giros & Loucheur company built the Hussein Dey thermal power plant. They changed the company’s name to Société Générale d’Entreprises (SGE) in 1908 and took over the Ciments de Rivet-Alger in 1913. The first rolling companies set up in Algeria as early as 1895: hence the compactor specialists Émile (1895) and Henri Saucède (1904).

4However, it was Tunisia which attracted the most contractors. Already participating in the Bône-Guelma railway, the Société de Construction des Batignolles (SCB), managed by Jules Goüin, was granted a concession to develop the port of Tunis (1885-1890). There it faced competition from Hildevert Hersent, and afterwards from his sons Jean and Georges, who had had a base at Bizerte since 1883. They developed the town, building three successive tranches of the port (1883-1892, 1899-1902, 1913-1914), the large ship refitting basins at Sidi-Abdallah (where the Fougerolle brothers were also working, as was GTM (1901-1905), and cleaned up the bay of Sabra (1913-1914). Between 1899 and 1903, Alexandre Giros built the aqueduct from Bargou to the city of Tunis. In 1901, the Société des Mines d’Asphalte du Centre created an agency in Tunis to pave the city streets. Later, Morocco was at the origin of the creation in 1912, of the Consortium Marocain (SGE + GTM + Fougerolle Frères + Établissements Daydé), which a year later became the Société Générale d’Entreprises Marocaines (SGEM).

5The ambitions of French companies were not limited to the Maghreb. They progressed as far as Ethiopia, where from 1897 to 1910, Duparchy and Vigouroux built a large portion of the Djibouti-Addis Ababa railway line. But the most important projects were built in the Ottoman Empire, such as the port of Smyrna, developed from the 1860s by the Dussaud brothers. The most active company there by far was the Régie Générale des Chemins de Fer owned by Count Philippe Vitali. It obtained the concession for major railway lines: Thessalonica– Constantinople (1894-1920), Smyrna-Cassaba, today Izmir-Turgutlu (1894-1934), Nakoura-Beirut-Tripoli (1901- 1955). Likewise, it acquired the concessions for the ports of Beirut (1901-1947) and Tripoli (1901-1955). In the Middle East, it met with lively competition from other French firms, such as SCB, owned by Ernest and Jules Goüin, which built the Moudania-Bursa (1891-1893) and Beirut-Damascus (1891-1893) lines as a concession. Joining forces with the companies Hersent and Schneider et Cie, the Régie Générale des Chemins de Fer created the Consortium des Ports Ottomans. Other companies swarmed the Empire, too, such as the SGE, whose subsidiary, Ottomane d’Électricité, built a large thermal power plant at Constantinople (1912-1914). The same year, another consortium, the Société Générale d’Entreprises dans l’Empire Ottoman (SGE + GTM + Fougerolle Frères) won an enormous contract to maintain the roads in the Empire.

1914-1945: A withdrawal to the colonial empire

6World War I caused French companies to pull back from vast territories like the Ottoman Empire. Ataturk’s Turkey was not especially open to them either, despite the creation by Eau et Assainissement, a subsidiary of Pont-à-Mousson, of the water system of Bursa (1930) and the construction by the Régie Générale des Chemins de Fer of the aerodrome at Izmir and of 50 km of tourist roads around the town in 1937-1939, in partnership with the Société des Routes Modernes. Egypt also became less friendly, as the experience of the GTM shows: after building workers’ housing for the Compagnie de Suez in 1921, the company tried to create an agency in 1925. It remained relatively inactive after it failed to obtain the contract for the construction of the Nag-Hammadi dam. The Société Anonyme Hersent (SAH) also encountered setbacks: in 1934, although victorious in the competition for the works at the Assiut barrage, it was rejected by the Egyptian authorities in favor of a British firm. In 1936, it nevertheless opened an agency. Until 1940, this office carried out numerous civil-engineering works for the Egyptian government, such as the famous El-Alamein roadway.

7SAH also had little luck in Iraq, where it was again excluded from a competition it had won (the Kut dam, 1933). It made up for the loss in Iran, with the construction, from 1934 to 1938, of 14.8 km of the Trans-Iranian railway line (including 15 tunnels, 2 bridges and 5 viaducts) in cooperation with Edmund Nuttal Sons and Co, a major British family firm. They created a joint venture managed by the SAH. Even though the SCB failed to create a consortium with Ulen (United States) and Julius Berger (Germany) to build the entire Trans-Iranian line, the Régie Générale des Chemins de Fer also won two tranches (13 km with two large viaducts and 6.5 km of tunnels).

8The French companies returned to their own colonial empire, where major technical opportunities came their way. Certainly, World War I slowed down business, but some construction continued: the Ouenza railway line in Algeria (to 1916) and narrow gauge railway lines in Morocco (1917-1918). In particular, from the early 1920s, reinforced concrete contractors did a booming business. The material was ideal for port works (Kenitra wharf in 1921 by the Société des Grands Travaux en Béton Armé or GTBA) as well as bridge construction. The bowstring bridge without triangulation on Mellègue wadi in Tunisia (1927) was an engineering exploit designed by Henry Lossier for the Entreprises Fourré & Rhodes (EFR). GTBA built a span over Sebaou wadi in Morocco (1923). In this field, Entreprises Boussiron, founded by Simon Boussiron, was the firm that completed the most projects, through its subsidiaries in Algeria (bridges at Bil- Braguetz and Perrégaux), Morocco (airfields), and Tunisia (Bizerte hangars, 65m span, 1931). In 1936, Jacques Fougerolle took over his father-in-law’s company and changed the name.

9Roads also offered interesting prospects for works. The most active companies were the Société Anonyme pour la Construction et l’Entretien des Routes (SACER), established by Gaëtan Brun, and Société Routière Colas. SACER, founded in 1913 in Morocco, built numerous roads and avenues in Algiers, Bône, Philippeville, and Tizi-Ouzou in the interwar period. Colas, managed by Georges Mathieu, had been spawned by the Emulsion Department of the SGE. From 1929 on, having become the Société Routière Colas, it developed significant business in Algeria and Morocco, where it operated three of its nineteen factories. There they met with competition from the Routes Modernes, established for a time in Algiers (1929-1930), from Viasphalte, whose Algerian agency also operated three factories, at Oran, Philippeville, and Constantine. Finally, numerous companies worked on the electrification of Northern Africa: for example, Parisienne Électrique, a subsidiary of the Empain group, installed lines for the Algerian railways from 1924 to 1926, then equipped the port of Algiers in 1933. The Compagnie d’Entreprises Électriques et de Travaux Publics, a subsidiary of the CEM, also worked there, on the electrification of the Bône-Oued Keberit in Algeria from 1929 to 1933, l’Électro- Entreprise of the Lebon Group which, in Morocco equipped the Petitjean-Meknès-Fez line (1934) and the Compagnie Générale d’Entreprises Électriques (CGEE), subsidiaries of the Compagnie Générale d’Électricité, established in Algeria and Tunisia since 1928 and which opened an agency in Algiers in 1935.

10In the Empire, French companies were active chiefly in Algeria (almost a quarter of colonial contracts between the two wars). There, they built railway lines and ports. Of all the construction projects, the biggest was undoubtedly the port of Mers-el-Kébir. It employed Dragages TP, the Entreprises Campenon Bernard (ECB), the Entreprises de Grands Travaux Hydrauliques (EGTH), the Entreprises Léon Ballot, Ossude & Blanc, the SAH, Sainrapt & Brice, Schneider et Cie, the Société Algérienne des Entreprises Léon Chagnaud (SAELC), and Truchetet & Tansini. French firms also responded to new needs: the construction of churches and thermal power stations (one in Algiers in 1927) for the Entreprises Fourré & Rhodes; the water supply for the company Eau et Assainissement (Bône, Philippeville, Sidi-Bel-Abbès between 1923 and 1934). However, it is the dams that are most striking. Beginning in the second half of the 1920s, spectacular works were begun. They include a gravity dam (Zardezas by the Entreprises Léon Ballot), a dam with multiple vaults (Ksob wadi, from 1931 to 1935, by the Travaux Hydrauliques et d’Entreprises Générales), but also riprap dams: Foum-el-Gueiss (EFR), Ghrib (1927-1937) and Bou Hanifia (1932-1943). Ghrib and Bou Hanifia were enormous SAELC projects, completed while the company was developing the lower Chéliff valley for irrigation and modernizing the port of Mostaganem. In terms of dams, the ECB have to their credit the Fodda wadi (1926-1932), of the Hamiz (1934-1935), where they introduced prestressing, the Portes de Fer (1937-1939) and the Beni Bahdel (1939 - 1941). The implementation of the 44 km of overflow ducts of the Fodda wadi were a decisive step towards the final victory of prestressed concrete.

11In terms of infrastructure, Tunisia had acquired a certain lead before World War I. Nevertheless, major construction projects continued there, such as dams (Oued el-Kebir by GTM from 1921 to 1925), thermal power stations (La Goulette, in 1926 by EFR), underground fuel oil tanks (Ossude et Blanc, from 1930 to 1936). Through its subsidiaries France Dragages, Compagnie du Port de Bizerte, and Énergie Électrique de la Ville de Bizerte, the SAH was in a privileged position on the Tunisian market. However, it was faced with increasing competition. Numerous companies from France tried to expand there, sometimes unsuccessfully, such as the SGE, through the Société Tunisienne d’Entreprises, liquidated in June 1924. Others, like the Entreprises Chaufour-Dumez, succeeded. Their Tunisian subsidiary worked at Tunis and Bizerte from 1935 until 1944. Even more spectacular was the success of the Société des Grands Travaux de l’Est (GTE). Founded in 1930, their Tunis agency built military barracks at Bizerte, Sousse, and Tunis, and buildings for industrial complexes, like phosphate silos, at Sfax and Tunis. Spurred by CEO Jean Vichot, the company thus penetrated the Algerian market, in 1936, where it worked on the development of ports and delivered schools and aviation hangars. In 1939, the GTE earned over 50% of its turnover there.

12The Depression of the 1930s hit Morocco hard. However, it had been a sort of Eldorado during the previous decade. Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (Compagnie Générale du Maroc) and Schneider (Compagnie Marocaine) and their entrepreneur allies vied fiercely for the market. It offered immense construction prospects, in port development, for example. Schneider et Cie in partnership with the SAH got the contract for ports at Casablanca (1913-1929) and Safi (1923-1929). In 1916, the Société des Ports Marocains was constituted. It combined the SGEM, the Compagnie Marocaine, and Omnium d’Entreprises; between 1919 and 1927, it built the ports of Méhédya-Port Lyautey (Kenitra) and Rabat-Salé. The competitors quickly reached an agreement: in 1920 and 1923, the Générale du Maroc and the Compagnie Marocaine respectively gave rise to the Chemins de Fer du Maroc and to Énergie Électrique du Maroc. From then on, enormous railway construction projects began to install an electrified network that was more modern than the one in mainland France. Fougerolle Frères delivered a portion of the Tangier-Fez railway line in the 1920s, and major works were carried out on the CFM network: Fougerolle Frères, GTM, and SGE built lines south of Rabat from 1920 to 1926, while Schneider et Cie worked in the north from 1920 to 1929. The EGTH (1929- 1933) and the partnership Ballot-Gianotti Frères (1931- 1933) also worked there, on the Fez-Oujda line. Finally, in 1935, the Port-Lyautey-Petitjean link was finished, on which Bringer et Tondu, A. Dehé & Cie, and l’Électro-Entreprise worked. Lyautey’s decision to condemn the narrow-gauge railway line required major construction on bridges and tunnels (Le Scorpion by Fougerolle Frères).

13Morocco’s hydraulic and hydroelectric development also offered perspectives. The large dams built in the period include the EGT projects on the Mellah wadi (1927-1931) and on the Beht at El Kansera (1927-1935). Hydroelectric power was harnessed at Sidi Said Machou, 1924-1929, by SGEM, which also built the thermal plant at Casablanca. The cities also needed a water supply. Eau et Assainissement thus carried out major works at Ksar-el-Kébir (1928) and Rabat (1931-1932). Bringer et Tondu installed the irrigation system for the Sidi Yahia oasis near Oujda in 1930, before working on the sewer system for Marrakech, in 1935. As for the Société des Tuyaux Bonna, it laid 130 km of water pipes and other conduits to bring water from the Fouarat region as far as Casablanca, Fédala, Port-Lyautey, Rabat, and Salé. Everything slowed down noticeably in the 1930s, due to the absence of a protectionist customs system in Morocco. French companies switched to Algerian clients.

14Between the two wars, France governed three League of Nations mandates: Syria, Lebanon and the Sanjak of Alexandretta (today’s Iskenderun, Turkey). In Alexandretta, especially, GTM and the Société Française d’Entreprises (SFE) developed a modern port under the concession regime, from 1922 to 1927. Incorporated in 1914 by GTM, SGE, and Fougerolle Frères, SFE, in partnership with Fougerolle Frères, built the suspension bridge over the Euphrates at Deir-es-Zor. From 1925 to 1933, the Travaux Hydrauliques d’Entreprises Générales (THEG) worked on the Damascus water supply lines, then in 1934 on raising the dam at Homs Lake. During the 1920s, the Entreprise Sainrapt & Brice, which was also active in Oran and Mostaganem, constructed a dam and irrigation canals in this part of Syria. As for the CGEE, it delivered its first hydraulic power station on the Orontes river, Syria, in 1935. Finally, Lebanon remained the preserve of the Régie Générale des Chemins de Fer. It built an additional 70 km of railway lines and pursued equipping the ports of Beirut (1925-1940) and Tripoli (1933-1939). In Beirut, the Régie also graded and built the airport, and dozens of buildings.

15The Société Anonyme Hersent reinforced its presence in the Empire (26.5% of its turnover from 1919 to 1929, 41.2% from 1929 to 1939). The company worked on the port of Algiers with Schneider et Cie, from 1921 to 1939, but also at Safi and Casablanca. In Morocco, it controlled the Compagnie Marocaine de Fédala, which dealt in real estate, and its subsidiary, the Société du Port de Fédala. Although SAH failed to make Fédala a major oil terminal, it created a modern fishing port and built Morocco’s main refrigerated warehouses there. GTM enjoyed a similar expansion (22.7% of its turnover in the Empire from 1913 to 1931, 37.8% from 1931 to 1939). In Tunisia, as early as 1921, it installed the Tunis-Bizerte high voltage line, then the Tunis-La Goulette thermal power station. In Algeria, it set up part of the Compagnie Méridionale de Mostaganem’s network, especially the Oran-Mascara high voltage section, developed the waterfall at Ain Tinzert (1932-1936), and built the Bakhada dam (1932-1936). In Morocco it built the Fez hydroelectric station (1932) and dam (1932-1935), then the N’Fis hydroelectric factory. Finally, it cooperated with the SFE on equipping Djibouti, in 1936, a project in which the SCB and the Entreprises Métropolitaines et Coloniales also took part. The SCB appears to have been less involved in the Empire (9.1% of its turnover from 1913 to 1932, 11.3% from 1932 to 1939). Nevertheless it took a majority share in the constitution of the Compagnie Générale des Colonies, with Paribas, Fougerolle, GTM, and SFE. In Morocco, with SGEM, it erected the dams of Sidi Said Machou, then of Im Fout (1939-1944), over the Oum el-Rebia.

16World War II significantly reduced construction activity by French companies, even though some, such as the Grands Travaux de l’Est, withdrew from France to its colonies. Others suffered a lot from the situation. The SAH continued its projects in Algiers, on the naval base of Mers-el-Kébir and in the port of Casablanca. However, at Bizerte, it was subject to so much destruction it was obliged to sell out to the Société Foncière de l’Afrique du Nord. In fact the concentration on the Maghreb (55.4% of total turnover from 1939 to 1944) only provided slight comfort. The GTM followed the same route, but depended less on North Africa alone (28.6% of turnover at the same dates) and, above all, carried out income generating hydraulic works in Morocco. The situation appeared generally identical for SGE (21.3% of total turnover in North Africa, mainly in Morocco from 1939 to 1944). These two companies thus retained their advantages faced with the challenges of the post-war period.


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