Syrian Investment Agency Suspends Development Company Licence Renewals

The Syrian Investment Agency has suspended the renewal of licences for real estate development companies, citing the preparation of new implementing instructions for the latest amendments to the Investment Law. The move has disrupted the work of dozens of companies and their projects.

The core dispute between the Syrian Investment Agency and the owners of these companies centres on the conditions for regularising their status, particularly the insistence on maintaining the minimum required capital at SYP 5 billion, which currently amounts to around USD 500,000, without a clear timetable for resolution.

A source at the SIA told The Syria Report that it is reviewing the issue of renewing the licences of real estate development companies, and that work is currently underway to amend the companies capital to regularise their status. The source said that the measure aims to ensure the seriousness of these companies in entering real estate development projects, that they have financial solvency, and that they are not merely companies licensed on paper.

The source added that raising the capital of real estate development companies to USD 500,000 is not a large amount for companies that may have projects far exceeding this figure. Therefore, a company that is serious about undertaking real estate development projects will not delay increasing its capital, especially since the capital belongs to the company.

The dispute between authorities and real estate companies is not new. It began in August 2024, when the Investment agency, under Bashar Al-Assad, asked the owners of real estate development companies to regularise their companies’ status by raising their capital to SYP 5 billion (around USD 370,000) within a one-year deadline. At that time, however, only Al-Qaterji Company submitted a request to regularise its status and raised its capital, while the rest of the companies rejected this settlement, arguing that they were old companies previously licensed.

After the fall of the Assad regime, the new transitional president, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, issued Decree No. 114 in July 2025, which introduced some amendments to the Investment Law, including the establishment of a Higher Council for Economic Development (HCED).

Just days after the decree was issued, real estate development companies and the SIA held a meeting during which the latter asked companies to submit requests to regularise their status to renew their licences. The issue of setting new capital levels for the companies would be considered at a later time. According to some company owners, they did not receive any response from the SIA thereafter.

Kifah Al-Kousa, the owner of Aram Real Estate Development, said that the SIA stopped renewing the licences of real estate development companies, which has disrupted work on the projects they are working on or intend to apply for.

The Syria Report’s local correspondent found that company owners submitted requests to regularise their status in July 2025, without any response from the SIA to date. SIA employees responsible for the real estate development companies file have no clear answer regarding the fate of these companies. Several company owners complained to The Syria Report about the Investment agency’s lack of attention to their companies’ situation. As a result of this delay in renewing their licences, companies incur late-payment fines.

Maamoun Nashar, the owner of Aali Al-Jibal for Real Estate Development and Investment, said that some companies have begun laying off employees in preparation for closing down, as they are unable to operate without renewing their licences. Mr Nashar added that there is confusion within the SIA regarding renewal; he said that he tried to submit a request to renew his company’s licence, but bureaucratic problems prevented him from doing so.