Feasibility study, techno-economic study, business plan: three documents for three readers in Algeria

1. Do feasibility study, techno-economic study and business plan mean the same document?

Not quite. Project owners use the three terms interchangeably, and so do many consultancies. Algerian law only uses two of them as the name of a document.

We searched for all three expressions in the texts that govern the files we prepare. They do not say the same thing.

• "Techno-economic study" (étude technico-économique) is the document required by Article 6 of Executive Decree No. 23-487, as rewritten by Executive Decree No. 26-154 of 14 April 2026 (Official Journal No. 31). An applicant for economic land must attach "l'étude technico-économique du projet d'investissement, dûment établie par un professionnel qualifié, conformément au plan-type à l'annexe (V)", meaning a study prepared by a qualified professional following the official template in Annex V.
• "Business plan" (plan d'affaires) is the term used by Executive Decree No. 20-254 of 15 September 2020, which governs the "start-up" label. Its Article 12 lists "un plan d'affaires détaillé" (a detailed business plan) among the application documents. Article 25 tasks incubators with helping start-ups prepare "business plans, d'études de marché et des plans de financement".
• "Feasibility study" (étude de faisabilité) is not the name of a required document in any text we read. The word "feasibility" does appear, but as a conclusion. Law No. 25-12 of 3 August 2025 on mining activities defines the discoverer of a deposit as the person "dont l'étude technico-économique, prenant en compte les principes du développement durable en a prouvé la faisabilité" (Article 5): whose techno-economic study proved its feasibility.

The mining law sums up the hierarchy well. Feasibility is what you set out to prove. The techno-economic study is the document that proves it. A business plan tells a different story: the trajectory of a company.

2. Who asks for which document, and under what name?

The right document depends on who will read it. The table below lists the recipients we deal with most often, with the exact term each one uses.

CPA and BNA document lists checked on 15 October 2026. Other banks publish their own lists; check yours before ordering any document.

Two rows often surprise foreign investors. BNA names no study at all: it asks for the documents one by one. And neither of the two bank lists we read mentions a business plan. A loan file is built on a techno-economic study or on its figures, not on a business plan in the sense an investor means.

3. What sets the techno-economic study apart?

Its starting point. It begins with the physical project: the production process, installed capacity, equipment list, supplier quotes and site. It then works out the economic and financial consequences.

For an economic land application, its content is not free-form. The template in Annex V of Decree No. 26-154 sets nine parts, from the presentation of the promoter to the appendices. Part VI, "Economic and financial forecasts", requires a forecast income statement, cash-flow table and balance sheet over three to five years, followed by IRR, NPV, break-even point and margin rate. The nine parts are detailed in our article on the official template.

The decree also requires the study to be prepared "by a qualified professional". It does not define that professional, and we found no implementing text that does. The study is a signed document that commits both its author and the applicant, because its investment figures are carried over into the specifications the investor signs. For what such a study costs, see the cost of a feasibility study in Algeria.

4. What is a business plan for, and who requires one?

A business plan looks at the company rather than the installation. It describes the market, the offer, the commercial strategy and the team, then the financial trajectory over several years. Its natural reader is someone putting money into the share capital, or judging growth potential.

In Algeria, one text requires it expressly. An application for the "start-up" label must include "un plan d'affaires détaillé" (Article 12 of Decree No. 20-254). Executive Decree No. 25-311 of 1 December 2025, which amended that decree and created the "scale-up" label, left this article unchanged. The decree sets no template for the business plan.

In our experience, this is where the costliest mix-up happens. An industrial promoter orders a business plan, often based on a template found online, and files it with the single window or the bank. The document looks good, but it does not follow the official template and says nothing about the process or the equipment. It has to be redone. What a bank looks for in a business plan is covered in our article on bankable business plans.

5. So what does "feasibility study" actually cover?

It is the most widely used term and the least defined. In practice it covers two different things.

1. A short preliminary study that decides between "go" and "stop". It checks that a market exists, that a site and an accessible technology are available, and that profitability is in the right range. The project owner uses it before spending more.
2. The techno-economic study itself, under another name. When a client asks us for "a feasibility study for AAPI" or "for the bank", what they need is almost always the techno-economic study.

The distinction matters. A preliminary study of a few pages does not follow the official template, is not meant to be filed, and carries no weight at the single window. It can, however, save you from paying for a full study on a project that does not hold up.

This two-way split comes from our practice, not from a legal definition. Our rule is simple. We use the exact term in the recipient's document list, and we produce the document that list describes.

6. Can the same document go to the bank, to AAPI and to an investor?

Yes for the substance, no for the form. All three documents share the same assumptions: supplier quotes, volumes, selling prices, headcount and the financing plan. That is the longest part of the work, and it is done only once.

The form changes with the reader.

• AAPI reads in the order of the official template. A study that follows it step by step is checked quickly; one that reorganises it makes the reader search.
• The bank reads the loan horizon and repayment capacity. A three-year forecast that complies with the template does not cover a seven-year loan, so it has to be extended. The lines the bank reads are set out in the five-year forecast income statement.
• The labelling committee or the investor reads growth potential, innovation and the team. Forty pages of technical detail matter less to them than three pages on the market.

In our experience, the sound approach is a common core of quantified assumptions, then one version per recipient. The same assumption must never carry two values in two documents from the same promoter. Banks and AAPI sometimes compare files, and the gap shows.

This article sets out the terms used by the texts and document lists cited, together with a reading grid drawn from our practice. It does not constitute legal or investment advice, nor any guarantee of obtaining financing, economic land or a label. Texts and document lists may change: check them in the Official Journal and with the recipient before filing.

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BENSAID Farouk

Financial & Economic Research Consultant — ProfitPilot NextGen Consulting

Certified sole trader and expert in financial studies, risk analysis and market research for SMEs, startups and investors in Algeria. View full profile