ODAS Saharan Land: Conditions, Portfolios, Committee, Concession

1. 1. Why ODAS and not ONTA?

Because the decree that governs the development of State land splits the country between two offices. Executive decree no. 21-432 of 4 November 2021 gives the North to ONTA. Saharan perimeters are delimited and granted by ODAS under its own decree (articles 5 and 8).

ODAS was set up by executive decree no. 20-265 of 22 September 2020. It is a public industrial and commercial body, supervised by the Minister of Agriculture, with its seat in El Meniâ (articles 3, 5 and 6). Its mission is specific: to carry out national policy on strategic industrial agriculture on Saharan land (article 7). It delimits perimeters on the basis of technical studies (article 10) and runs a single window for investors (article 38).

Size is the other difference. An ONTA plot is often a few hectares. At ODAS, the floor is 250 ha.

2. 2. Who may apply, and for what project?

Article 4 of decree 21-432 opens land development to Algerian natural persons and to legal entities under Algerian law. A company can therefore apply, which is not possible on the law 10-03 farms managed by ONTA.

The ODAS conditions page, checked on 23/10/2026, adds its own requirements:

• a project in cereals (maize included), oilseeds, sugar crops or fodder;
• a project geared towards processing, serving the national market and cutting imports;
• an integrated project;
• an area requested of at least 250 ha, consistent with the business plan and the financing capacity;
• financial capacity shown by recent bank statements.

The page does not define “integrated”. Our reading is that it ties in with the processing goal: ODAS expects a project that goes beyond harvesting, or that is backed by a processing unit. Ask the Office before building the file.

3. 3. How does a portfolio appear, and how long does it stay open?

The order of 21 March 2021 sets the procedure. ODAS publishes a call on its website stating the wilaya, the area, the strategic sector, the objectives, the file required, the filing deadline and the fees (article 7). A perimeter can be granted whole or plot by plot, as the committee decides (article 3).

In practice the Office works in successive portfolios. The eighth, published on 16 July 2026, covered 38,622 ha in thirteen perimeters across five wilayas (Timimoun, El Meniaa, Ghardaïa, Ouargla, Illizi). On 15 October 2026 the Office removed the fact sheets and forms from its page, and the site has shown the end of registration since.

No text sets how long a call stays open. The third portfolio stayed open for twenty-one days, from 15 May to 4 June 2023. You learn the deadline when the call is announced, and it is short. The file is built before.

Perimeters come back from one portfolio to the next. All thirteen in the eighth had already seen allocations in portfolios 3, 5 or 7. Our ODAS Saharan farmland tool lists them with those past allocations.

4. 4. What goes into the file?

Decree 21-432 sets the base (article 14):

• the project's business plan;
• proof of financial capacity;
• the articles of association, for a legal entity.

ODAS specifies that financial capacity is shown by recent bank statements. It also charges a processing fee of 23,800 DA including tax, paid into an account at BADR bank. A file without the transfer order is not taken into account. The account number is on the Office's conditions page; take it from there.

Filing is online, on the form for the chosen perimeter, and produces an electronic receipt (article 8 of the order). The file is then registered and passed to the committee (article 9).

5. 5. Who decides, and how fast?

The ODAS technical expertise and evaluation committee. It assesses whether projects are sound and feasible and approves business plans (article 34 of decree 20-265). It is chaired by the Office's director general and includes its heads of technical departments, a representative of the commission for the development of agriculture in Saharan regions and a representative of the technical institute for Saharan agriculture (article 35). It may call on experts.

Fifteen days is the tightest deadline in the process. An appeal is built on the documents the refusal questions, so keep them ready from the day you file.

6. 6. What happens after selection?

The 2021 order describes the next steps, and ODAS sets them out as eight steps on its website:

1. visit to the plot with the Office's representatives and a visit and acceptance declaration (article 13);
2. certificate of eligibility for the concession, issued immediately (article 14);
3. installation: an approved design office or surveyor marks out the plot, and a report records it (article 15);
4. signature of the specifications at the Office; works start from that date (article 16);
5. concession deed drawn up by the State property services, then notified by the Office (article 17).

Decree 21-432 sets the rules of the concession itself. It lasts forty years at most, renewable (article 10). Works must start within six months of installation (article 11). An annual fee is due, set by the finance act (article 12). The model specifications list as breaches a failure to start works after six months and non-payment of the fee for two years in a row (annex, article 8).

7. 7. How many files get through?

Few. ODAS publishes the results of each portfolio, and three lists give the number of applications:

Fewer than one file in ten succeeds. The list for the seventh portfolio, published on 22 January 2026, names 60 investors for 34,900 ha, without the number of applications.

Some land comes back. ODAS speaks of “recovered” or “cleared” perimeters. In February 2023, according to the press, the ministry said 40% of beneficiaries had not farmed the land they received. An allocation is not the end of the story: the specifications are monitored.

8. 8. What makes a file fail?

No scoring grid is published for ODAS, unlike the 2012 order for ONTA. What follows is our reading of the conditions and of the committee's role, not a rule of law.

• An area out of line with the financing. ODAS ties the 250 ha to the business plan and the financing capacity. Statements that barely cover the drilling cannot carry a project that size.
• A crop outside the list. Vegetables or orchards do not qualify.
• A project that stops at harvest. The integration condition and the processing goal head the conditions page.
• An unrealistic timetable. Works must start within six months of installation. A plan that assumes two years of financing before the first borehole runs into the specifications.
• A file filed without the transfer order. It is not examined.

The business plan carries most of the weight. We cover what it has to show in a separate article.

FAQ — Frequently asked questions

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