Engineers’ Syndicate Presents Reconstruction Programme Amid Government Reservations

The Syrian Engineers’ Syndicate has submitted its detailed programme for managing the reconstruction process to the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, presenting it as the syndicate’s official vision for reconstruction. The programme proposes establishing a central authority linked to the Presidency of the Republic, implementing a comprehensive damage survey, and developing zoning plans, alongside proposals to reduce engineering fees and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with various ministries. The syndicate is also hoping to be engaged throughout the reconstruction process, which today remains beholden to government decisions that treat it as a strategic sector without heavy participation by professional associations.

Syndicate president Malik Haj Ali told The Syria Report that the programme ( a 40-page document first prepared in February and further developed this past October) focuses on establishing a national mechanism for managing reconstruction through three interconnected stages.

The first stage begins with comprehensive property documentation aimed at securing land ownership in destroyed areas, in order to prevent future judicial disputes. The second stage is based on regulating the participation of state institutions in the reconstruction process by integrating infrastructure and essential services into a unified pathway, given that reconstruction requires addressing water and sewage networks and other facilities in parallel with rebuilding housing and structures. The third stage consists of securing domestic and international funding sources as a prerequisite for launching any large-scale plan. The programme also relies on estimates of nationwide damage and outlines a mechanism for assessing destruction and determining whether each building has suffered total or partial collapse before deciding on the appropriate engineering response.

The syndicate proposes a series of MoUs which it says are being signed with the Ministries of Local Administration and Environment, Public Works and Housing, and Social Affairs and Labour, in addition to a potential agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). These MoUs include proposals to reduce engineering fees for homes damaged by shelling and for urban development projects by between 30–50 percent, including projects in industrial cities, with the aim of encouraging investment. The syndicate suggests similar reductions for housing associations carrying out cooperative housing projects, as well as providing its engineering expertise for damage-assessment operations currently being undertaken by UNDP. This package of fee reductions and technical expertise, the syndicate said, could allow it to play a broader role in the reconstruction phase, particularly regarding the preparation of studies and plans and the provision of technical support for housing and service projects.

The programme also includes matters related to regulatory planning, expressing the syndicate’s “readiness” to prepare new plans for areas previously not covered by any urban planning, as well as to update currently applied plans. Mr Haj Ali said that the syndicate has proposed zoning plans in Damascus extending from the Dummar axis to the Ajaila area, on the grounds that these lands remain vacant and can be incorporated into a modern urban vision. The aim of these plans, according to the syndicate, is to move towards more balanced zoning models at the civil, urban, and environmental levels, in line with the development requirements necessary for long-term reconstruction projects.

The Engineers’ Syndicate also participates in a government committee recently formed by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing to carry out a national damage survey. The committee is chaired by the Minister of Housing and includes representatives from the syndicate –  among them the President, the Secretary, and a Council member –  as well as the Minister’s deputies, the Director-General of the General Company for Engineering Studies, the Director of the Regional Planning Authority, and representatives from  U.N. Habitat.

In recent months, the committee has held around eight meetings and begun work on assessing damage to public and private buildings by classifying them as totally destroyed, almost totally destroyed, or partially damaged, before determining the appropriate engineering treatment for each category. During the committee meetings, calls were made to expand participation to other government bodies such as the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Ministries of Local Administration and Environment and of Health, with preliminary results of the survey expected to be announced in the coming period.

In its August report on damage and reconstruction, the World Bank estimated the cost of reconstruction in Syria at between USD 140 and 345 billion, citing USD 216 billion as a cautious central estimate of the realistic cost. However, the syndicate estimated that the funding required for reconstruction exceeds USD 750 billion, Syndicate Secretary Raseen Ismat told The Syria Report. Mr Ismat argued that the figures provided by the World Bank do not reflect the true scale of destruction. The syndicate pointed out that the process goes beyond restoring damaged housing; it also includes rebuilding entire cities and preparing new zoning plans. Mr Ismat said that resolving the financial issues related to banking transfers and reactivating the SWIFT system could shorten the reconstruction period to around five years, as the availability of external funding would lead to rapid financial flows towards urban development projects. The five-year period estimated by Mr Ismat seems widely optimistic taking into account the vast destruction of infrastructure.

Real estate expert Ammar Youssef told The Syria Report that the syndicate should be a key body in managing reconstruction projects, yet its actual role remains limited due to government restrictions on access to this file. Mr Youssef said that the authorities consider reconstruction a strategic field in which professional bodies outside government institutions are not permitted to intervene, making the syndicate’s role closer to consultation than actual participation in decision-making. He noted that the absence of this role deprives the government of the engineering expertise available within the syndicate, despite the large number of engineers registered in it and despite the fee reductions and technical expertise it offers, which could contribute to accelerating reconstruction efforts.