Minister of Housing No Longer Licenced to Reduce Minimum Surface Area for Real Estate Development Zones

The Prime Ministry cancelled a power once granted to the Minister of Public Works and Housing that licences the minister to lower the minimum surface area required to establish a real estate development zone. This move apparently came due to an exception obtained by a private company to set up one such zone in Damascus in late 2021.

More specifically, the Prime Ministry issued Decree No. 398 in February 2022, cancelling Council of Ministers Decree No. 6023 of 2012. The 2012 decree had in turn amended the executive instructions of Real Estate Development and Investment Law No. 15 of 2008 and allowed the Minister of Housing to change the minimum surface areas required for establishing real estate development zones. However, the original executive instructions of the 2008 law allowed only the prime minister to reduce such areas after a proposal from the Minister of Housing.

Minimum areas for real estate development zones

The executive instructions of Law No. 15 of 2008, which were issued by Council of Ministers Decree No. 5410 of 2009, set the minimum surface areas required to establish real estate development zones in Syria as follows:

• Area one: This area includes the Damascus, Rural Damascus, and Aleppo governorates. Real estate development zones here may be no less than 25 hectares.
• Area two: This area is divided into two sub-categories. The first includes the Homs and Hama governorates, where real estate development zones may be no smaller than 20 hectares. The second includes the Lattakia and Tartous governorates, where real estate development zones must be at least 15 hectares.
• Area three: This area also has two sub-categories. The first includes the Daraa, Idlib, Quneitra, and Suweida governorates, where real estate development zones may be no less than 15 hectares. In the second sub-category, which includes Deir-ez-Zor, Hassakeh, and Raqqa, real estate development zones may be established regardless of size.

Real estate development zones may be established over existing informal housing areas regardless of size, with the approval of the Council of Ministers.

Real estate development zones and companies

Under Law No. 15 of 2008, a real estate development zone contains real estate properties that are either within or outside a zoning plan. Such real estate is secured from state properties, the properties of a local administrative unit, the private property of development companies, or an individual’s private properties. The 2008 law allowed expropriation of individually owned real estate located within real estate development zones for the benefit of the relevant administrative unit.

Dozens of real estate development companies were licensed in accordance with Law No. 15 of 2008, including six public sector companies. Still, no real estate development projects have yet been completed.

According to Law No. 15, such projects are implemented by real estate development companies that assume a direct relationship with rights-holding residents. These companies may construct infrastructure and service projects within the real estate development zones and provide alternative housing for impacted residents. The Syrian government is attempting to prioritise companies addressing informal housing districts, granting such companies more concessions and benefits than others.

Withdrawing powers from the Minister of Housing

It is unclear exactly why the Council of Ministers issued Decree No. 398 of 2022. The decree could be related to the Minister of Public Works and Housing exercising his power to reduce minimum land areas for real estate development zones for the first time in late 2021. In this case, he reduced the minimum area in Damascus from 25 hectares to only five hectares.

The Real Estate Development and Investment Commission, which is linked to the Minister of Public Works and Housing, agreed in late 2021 to grant a licence to Emessa Real Estate Development and Investment LLC to establish the first real estate development zone in Damascus. The five-hectare zone was located in Mazzeh, near the southern ring highway and the Basilia City project.

Various problems have accompanied the licensing process for Emessa, such as the announcement of the detailed zoning plan for the project, inclusion of neighbouring public properties and the amendment of the legal descriptions for some properties in order to comply with the provisions of Law No. 15. Some members of the Damascus governorate council have objected to licensing Emessa, claiming that approval was “private and not available to all,” especially regarding public properties located within the real estate development zone.

The Council of Ministers Decree No. 398 of 2022

Source: The Official Gazette