Despite ongoing delays to flagship projects such as the Algiers metro and the east-west motorway, the development of transport infrastructure continues to make steady progress. A joint venture between Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, a Spanish construction firm, and a local firm, ETRHB Haddad, has been awarded a US$1.7bn contract to build a new rail line between Tlemcen in the north-west and Akkid Abbas, on the border with Morocco, MEED, a regional business publication, reported. The 66-km line is part of a scheme to build a 185-km line between Relizane, Tiaret and Tissemsilt. Bids are due by May 13th to build a 5-km extension to the tram network currently under construction in Constantine. The 8-km first phase of the network is due for completion by 2011 and is being built by a consortium of Alstom of France and Impresa Pizzaroti of Italy. Bids are due by June 12th for the design and supervision contract on the eastern extension of the Algiers tramway. The government plans to spend US$30bn on transport between 2010 and 2014, as part of its US$286bn infrastructure development plan. It plans to increase the coverage of the national rail network from 3,500 km to 10,500 km by 2014, but having already fallen behind on its targets for the 2005-09 infrastructure development programme, is unlikely to deliver on its deadline.