Status of the HMPID CsI-RICH project for ALICE at the CERN/LHC

The ALICE high momentum particle identification (HMPID) detector, presently under construction, consists of seven identical proximity focusing RICH counters, covering in total 11 m/sup 2/ and exploiting large area CsI photocathodes for Cherenkov light imaging. The detector design, assembly and quality checks will be presented, with particular emphasis on the CsI photocathodes production and validation procedure. Performance studies in beam tests of the produced detector modules and results on ageing of CsI photocathodes due to ions bombardment will be discussed.