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Housing for Earthquake Survivors in Aleppo to be Built on Land Formerly Inhabited by IDPs

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Recent weeks have seen government housing projects announced as part of the long-term third phase of the National Action Plan to address the earthquake aftermath (dubbed “People First”), which the Council of Ministers declared on February 15 and approved a month later. 

In addition to providing accommodation for earthquake survivors, these projects aim to rezone and rebuild some informal settlements in east Aleppo, including Al-Maasrania suburb.  

Suhail Abdul Latif, the Minister of Public Works and Housing, inspected progress on government housing for eligible earthquake victims on June 3. A week later, Prime Minister Hussein Arnous was briefed on the project, which consists of four buildings comprising 120 flats, each ranging in size from 65 to 90 square metres, with a total floor area of 10,000 square metres, at a total estimated cost of SYP 18.6 billion. According to official announcements last June, the project is about 28 percent completed. The Military Construction Implementation Establishment, a part of the Ministry of Defence, is carrying it out.

A source in the Aleppo City Council told The Syria Report that the government would build the housing project for the earthquake victims on the ruins of unlicensed buildings partially or entirely damaged in combat. The buildings, located near Sayyida Zeinab Street and the Paint Factory in Al-Maasrania, had been previously demolished by the City Council in March and April 2021. At the time, the City Council carried out a demolition campaign targeting 50 buildings, most of whose owners had been forcibly displaced to opposition-held areas in northwestern Syria.

However, the City council did not announce at the time about these demolitions, which were part of a beautification plan to upgrade roads, sanitation and water networks in the suburb. The project involved demolishing unlicensed buildings partially or entirely damaged in combat when the opposition-controlled east Aleppo between 2012 and 2016. The City Council refused to grant renovation permits for the partially damaged buildings because they were in areas of mass unlicensed construction.

It remains unclear whether the earthquake victims’ housing project will be built on the same parcel of the land previously seized in Al-Maasrania for the benefit of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, where a youth housing project has been ongoing since 2002.

Al-Maasrania is located on the Aleppo-Raqqa highway near Aleppo International Airport. Initially, the suburb consisted of agricultural lands where construction was prohibited, and which were owned by the Sabouni, Benqisli, and Jabli families from Aleppo. However, informal settlements began to appear in the area in 1971, inhabited mainly by people who migrated to Aleppo city from rural areas. Many were employees in government institutions, ministries, police departments and the military. Since the 1970s, these newcomers would buy small plots of land and build unlicensed homes. It became customary for buyers to file lawsuits against the sellers to verify the sales, through which they obtain a court ruling confirming the transaction – the only document proving their ownership of the land. Meanwhile, the Directorate of Cadastral Affairs refused to document such sales, rejecting the recognition of its de facto subdivision and the existence of construction on it.

In 1982, the state confiscated agricultural lands in Al-Maasrania close to Aleppo International Airport, including 36 properties that it seized only partially. Nevertheless, the process of unlicensed construction on the partially seized plots continued. These properties extended from the Scientific Research facility to the east, formerly known as the Paint Factory neighbourhood, to the Sayyida Zeinab Mosque neighbourhood to the south and to the west in the Shulba neighbourhood. The City Council considered the entire Al-Maasrania neighbourhood an area of collective unlicensed construction. In 2002, ownership of the 36 partially seized plots was transferred to the General Housing Establishment, which launched a youth housing project to build 4,000 residential flats on a 68-hectare area. Of these flats, 215 were allocated as paid alternative housing for those who had been notified that their homes would be demolished in the project zone.

Then in 2007, the Aleppo City Council demolished 50 unlicensed houses in the youth housing project area. Law enforcement surrounded the area, assaulting those who tried to halt the demolition of their homes. The City Council promised that evicted residents would be given priority in subscribing to the paid alternative housing in the project area. However, by 2010, only a small portion of the entire project had been completed, much like all social housing projects in Syria.

Al-Maasrania became a dangerous area after 2012 due to its proximity to the airport. It was subject to air strikes by the regime until 2016, resulting in widespread devastation. In December 2016, all residents were displaced outside of Aleppo city. Then, on December 20, 2020, the General Housing Establishment cancelled the subscriptions of those who had not paid their required instalments in more than a year, essentially removing forcibly displaced people.

Government Housing Projects for Eligible Earthquake Victims

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Four months after the February 6 earthquake, governmental housing projects for those whose homes were damaged or lost in the disaster are still in the initial stages of debris removal, for the homes destroyed, and foundation digging. 

Chaos, confusion and lack of clarity pervade the official statements and data regarding these projects, although one can already conclude that government housing projects for victims of the earthquake are part of the third longer-term stage of the government’s national action plan, which was announced by the Council of Ministers on February 15 and approved two months later. This third stage stipulates that homes should be rebuilt and the urban landscape improved relative to the situation before the earthquake and war, through the rezoning and rebuilding of informal settlements.

There is also a variance in the nomenclature that Syrian officials use for these planned projects in the governorates of Aleppo and Lattakia; some of them call it alternative housing, for example. In this article, we will adopt the name government housing projects for eligible earthquake victims, to distinguish them from prefabricated temporary housing projects, which are funded by regional and international donors.

In all cases, there are doubts over the possibility of completing the government housing projects within the officially set one-year deadline. The modest number of expected completed homes may not meet the housing needs of the large numbers of affected people. Additionally, the criteria adopted to determine who are the beneficiaries of these homes after their completion remain unclear.

 

Aleppo city

The earthquake caused the total collapse of 53 buildings in the city of Aleppo, with cracks appearing and partial collapses occurring in hundreds of other buildings. On February 19, the governor of Aleppo stated that 220 buildings at risk of collapse had been demolished.

On June 10, Prime Minister Hussein Arnous inspected two housing project sites for the quake victims in Aleppo; one in Al-Haidariya neighbourhood and the other in Al-Maasaraniya suburb for youth housing, east of the city. Arnous said during his visit that the two housing projects “contribute to solving the problem of unlicensed construction.” It is unclear what exactly he meant, but the two areas where these housing projects are being implemented include large informal settlements built on public property, some of which were damaged by the earthquake.

According to state media, four buildings will be constructed in Al-Haidariya, each consisting of 10 storeys with eight apartments each, making 320 apartments in total. The total area of these apartments will be 25,600 square metres, at a total cost estimated at SYP 66.6 billion. Jamal Karim, the head of the studies department at Aleppo city council, said on June 4 that the body studying the project is the Professional Practice Unit at Aleppo University, and that the General Housing Establishment under the Ministry of Public Works and Housing will implement it. Four months after the earthquake, work on this project is still in its early stages, which includes land levelling and digging foundations.

The land on which the project in Al-Haidariya is being built is owned by the Aleppo city council. On March 15, the head of Aleppo city council, Muadd Al-Madlaji, said that the area of land allocated in Al-Haidariya for housing the earthquake victims is 78 hectares large and can accommodate 10,000 residential apartments. It should be noted that Al-Haidariya is a large informal area where the Aleppo city council had previously created a 118-hectare real estate development zone in October 2010, which is also public property. So far, it is unclear what the boundaries of the new housing project for earthquake victims in Al-Haidariya are, and whether it extends to some of the land allocated for the real estate development area.

Meanwhile, the housing project in Al-Maasaraniya suburb east of Aleppo consists of four buildings containing 120 apartments, with each apartment ranging in size between 65 and 90 square metres, and a total floor area of 10,000 square metres, at a total estimated cost of SYP 18.6 billion. According to official announcements, the project is about 28 percent complete and is being carried out by the Military Construction Implementation Corporation (MCIC) of the Ministry of Defense—or Mataa in Arabic. The land on which the housing project in Al-Maasaraniya is being built is owned by the General Housing Establishment.

Al-Maasaraniya neighbourhood is located on the Aleppo-Raqqa highway, near Aleppo International Airport, and includes informal settlements built on public property. In 2002, the General Housing Establishment launched a youth housing project in Al-Maasaraniya. By 2010, only the first phase of the project had been completed, and part of it was handed over to applicants. From 2012 onwards, Al-Maasaraniya, including its youth housing, became a dangerous area due to its proximity to the airport, and until 2016 it was subjected to aerial bombardment by the regime, pushing most of its residents to flee and causing widespread destruction.

Both the projects in Al-Haidariya and Al-Maasaraniya have a one-year implementation deadline, Deputy Governor of Aleppo, Komeit Assi Al-Sheikh, told the state-run Tishreen newspaper on June 6.

The Minister of Public Works and Housing, Suhail AbdulLatif, inspected work at the housing project sites in Al-Haidariya and Al-Maasaraniya on June 3, pointing to the government’s interest in the buildings for eligible people as part of the measures included in the national earthquake response plan. AbdulLatif said that work is being done in a systematic engineering and administrative manner, urging adherence to execution quality and compliance with the set schedule. AbdulLatif chaired a meeting at the governorate building, in which he was briefed on a detailed presentation about the structural work, cladding and implementation phases in the two projects. 

 

Lattakia governorate

In the Lattakia governorate, 50 buildings completely collapsed and dozens partially collapsed due to the earthquake. In mid-May, the governor of Lattakia said there were 1,200 damaged buildings on the verge of collapse needing to be demolished, according to reports from public safety committees.

Similar to Aleppo, housing projects will be established in Lattakia for earthquake victims on lands owned by the General Housing Establishment, as well as lands owned by the Lattakia City Council. The governor of Lattakia, Amer Hilal, confirmed in mid-May that construction had begun on four residential towers in the city’s Al-Thawra Street neighbourhood, and two towers in Al-Gharraf neighbourhood. He added that preparations had also begun to construct two towers in the city of Jableh. The Minister of Public Works and Housing and the governor of Lattakia, inspected on May 13, the status of the works in some of these projects.

Each tower consists of 10 storeys of apartments, each ranging from 80 to 100 square metres. The actual number of apartments in these projects is unclear amid conflicting figures released by official sources; some numbers indicated the construction of 160 apartments on General Housing Establishment-owned land, and 160 apartments on lands owned by the Lattakia City Council. Other sources pointed to 320 apartments on GHE lands, and 80 apartments on city council lands under the management of the GHE and implemented by public construction companies.

In any case, work is currently still in its preliminary stages in all these projects. The Minister of Housing indicated that work is still focused on testing soil resistance at the site intended for the construction of two towers in Jableh, while the General Company for Engineering Studies is preparing engineering studies for the project. After their completion, the excavation work will commence.

On March 15, the head of the Lattakia Governorate Council told the semi-official Al-Watan newspaper that work was underway to provide housing to those who lost their homes in the quake. He added that preparations were underway to build a clear and precise database to identify and count all the victims whose homes were destroyed or cracked beyond repair. The official pointed out that administrative units will work on preparing the site for construction, and the governorate is preparing the infrastructure for sewerage networks, water and all other public services.

Prefabricated Temporary Housing for Earthquake Evacuees

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The first report to be issued by the operations rooms put in place in Syria’s earthquake-stricken governorates, issued on March 14, 2023, confirmed the existence of a medium-term approach to address the housing issue for those affected by the February 6 disaster. This approach involves installing prefabricated housing units to accommodate and host the affected families. It appears that there is a governmental directive to fund these units solely through international or regional donors, such as Iraq, the UAE and China.

Due to the lack of clarity and precise data about this approach, it can be concluded from the information published about it in the official media, that it falls under the second medium-term phase of the national action plan to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake, which was announced by the Council of Ministers on February 25 and approved on April 25.

In these projects, there is a variance in designations and terminologies; from shelter units to temporary housing, or pre-fabricated or alternative housing. In determining the characteristics of this type of housing, this article will use the name: temporary prefabricated housing units for earthquake victims. In all cases, official statements on the subject vary, and contradictions appear in the numbers of these units, their areas, the areas of the zones allocated for them. It is worth noting that the governorates of Aleppo and Lattakia have specified sites for the construction of these homes, while regional and international entities have taken on the task of building the units. A single site can include contributions from more than one grantor.

 

Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces

Prime Minister Hussein Arnous inspected a site in Jabrin area east of Aleppo city, during his visit to Aleppo on June 10, designated for the establishment of 332 temporary prefabricated housing units for earthquake victims. The project is being implemented by the Iraqi Relief Mobilisation, a civil arm of the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces, a militia composed of armed Iraqi Shiite factions loyal to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The operations room for the Aleppo governorate adopted a plan in March, the details of which were not revealed, to construct temporary prefabricated housing units for those affected by the earthquake, on a 50-hectare area in Jabrin, located near Aleppo International Airport and surrounded by the Sheikh Najjar industrial city and the Aleppo train station. Jabrin was incorporated into the administrative boundaries of Aleppo city in 1996. In 2017, a shelter centre and camps for displaced people were established there.

Aleppo Governor Hussein Diab stated to the media during a visit to the Iraqi Relief Mobilisation project in Jabrin, on April 9, that the installation of the temporary housing units represents a new stage on the road to recovery and a significant point in transitioning from collective shelters. Aleppo governorate has taken responsibility for levelling and preparing the land and carrying out infrastructure works.

On April 15, the state-run SANA news agency announced that technical work crews from the Iraqi Relief Mobilisation initiative, in cooperation with the Aleppo governorate, completed 100 prefabricated units in Jabrin. A member of the executive office in the governorate council said that the governorate of Aleppo has allocated a 13-hectare area in Jabrin to the Iraqi Mobilisation Relief initiative.

The coordinator of the Iraqi initiative, Ghaleb Al-Husseini, told SANA, on April 15 that the project aims to set eventually 500 housing units, 100 of which have been completed and are ready for delivery. Each unit covers an area of 36 square metres, consisting of two bedrooms and a salon, equipped with a solar panel. The units are constructed with iron as the main material used in manufacturing. The units also include sound and thermal insulation materials. These units will be equipped with necessary household furniture for family life, and each one can accommodate six to eight people. Husseini indicated that the first phase of the project is expected to be completed within two months, including the delivery of 300 units.

 

China

In late May, the Minister of Local Administration and Environment Hussein Makhlouf, along with the Chinese ambassador to Syria, Xi Hongoi, signed a document to receive prefabricated units, donated by the Chinese people for the earthquake victims. The Syrian minister stated that the units would be distributed equally between the governorates of Aleppo and Lattakia. These units are part of a plan for medium-term housing centres, and they can be used as mobile clinics or classrooms, depending on the needs of the schools, or as temporary kitchens for shelter centres, among other uses.

The director of the cargo transport regulation office in Aleppo governorate told the Athr Press website on April 20 that a convoy of 13 trucks transported 25 containers containing 100 prefabricated units from a Chinese ship that arrived at Lattakia port to the Jabrin area in Aleppo. The remaining homes are expected to arrive on other ships.

The Lattakia governorate received its share of prefabricated units from China as reported by Al-Watan newspaper, on April 10. An executive office member in Lattakia governorate explained that the donation, which arrived on the ship Lady Mia, included 228 housing units inside 57 containers. These were handed over to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) for distribution to the locations and areas designated by the governorate for the setting of temporary housing for those affected by the earthquake.

The executive office member added that those who will benefit from these units are the earthquake victims whose homes were destroyed and lost in the quake, or those whose homes were damaged and are at risk of collapse. This is according to a specific mechanism that includes the actual victims. The official did not clarify what this specific mechanism is, but he explained that each housing unit consists of one room and its facilities, with an area ranging between 40-50 square metres.

 

United Arab Emirates

In a press conference held in Lattakia on April 17, the head of the United Arab Emirates Red Crescent delegation, Mohammed Al-Kaibi, said that the UAE would construct 1,000 prefabricated housing units for those affected by the earthquake in Lattakia governorate. During the inauguration of the first prefabricated housing unit in Lattakia city’s Al-Gharraf neighbourhood on April 6, Kaibi stated that the purpose of these units is to ease pressure on shelter centres. He added that these would act as temporary shelter centres, comprising 1,000 housing units distributed over seven areas.

The Lattakia governorate earmarked seven sites for the establishment of prefabricated housing projects, as follows: three sites in Lattakia city – two in Al-Gharraf neighbourhood and one in Damsarkho. In the Jableh area, three sites were identified in the neighbourhoods of Al-Naka, Al-Fawar and Al-Faid, and one site was identified in Astamo in the Qardaha area.

The Relief Operations Room in the Lattakia governorate indicated that work would begin at Al-Gharraf. Each housing unit measures 42 square metres and follows a standard design. The Relief Operations Room added that coordination is ongoing with international organisations for the funding of temporary streets, pavements, public lighting and medical points for these projects. Meanwhile, the Governor of Lattakia projected that the completion period would be between six and eight months, including the provision of infrastructure such as water and electricity networks and sewage systems at the sites.

During a meeting with the directors of service and construction agencies in the governorate on April 16, the Lattakia governor stressed the need to expedite the implementation of infrastructure at the sites set aside for the Emirati housing units. He highlighted the necessity for regular monitoring of all the sites and speedy implementation of services and infrastructure, which would help in reducing the delivery time of the completed housing units.

The semi-official newspaper Al-Watan reported on May 9 that the mayor of Qammin, which includes the Astamo village, stated that the UAE project had temporarily halted due to the lack of suitable public land within the Qammin municipality’s jurisdiction. Therefore, the municipality suggested leasing a land for a period of 40 years with automatic renewal, which was rejected by the Ministry of Local Administration. The Ministry insisted on buying a piece of land at an appropriate price and establishing temporary housing units on it. As Al-Watan reported later, the Ministry’s insistence on purchasing the land was due to its desire to ensure the project’s future stability, serving the affected and the administrative unit in general. Indeed, on May 18, the Lattakia governorate council approved Qammin municipality’s request, granting it a donation of SYP 210 million to buy a piece of land to establish temporary homes for those affected by the earthquake in Astamo, with the UAE Red Crescent as the implementing party. 

On May 9, the official SANA news agency reported that the Lattakia governorate had begun legal procedures to transfer the land ownership in Astamo, prior to its preparation and commencement of construction work. The land, measuring 10 dunams and capable of accommodating 85 prefabricated housing units, is expected to have a completed housing project within eight months. 

Lattakia Residents Face Uncertainty After Earthquake

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Since the earthquake on February 06, some owners of damaged properties in Lattakia still do not know what could happen to their homes or whether they will receive state compensation. Meanwhile, there has been a lack of meaningful solutions at the government and local levels. 

If people affected by the earthquake do not have relatives or acquaintances of influential officials or cannot pay bribes to officials in municipalities and public safety committees, owners of damaged properties are afraid to ask about their rights. This is due to the security-focused nature of the Syrian state, which handles many day-to-day issues that impact people’s lives with secrecy. Such secrecy extends to data, statistics, zoning plans and detailed government plans. In addition, the fact that many people from the coastal region are affiliated with the security and military apparatuses means that they are used to carrying out orders, and public unaccountability has become the norm. 

Speaking with The Syria Report, one resident impacted by the quake described the situation in the public hallways and offices of the Lattakia governorate as a “black hole”. There, information is not transparent, and people do not receive clear answers to questions about their rights. Notably, specific topics are considered taboo and are prohibited. Nobody knows the exact reasons for these informational red lines, who set them, or whether they are simply baseless rumours. Without clear answers or information, most residents conduct their affairs based on hearsay, which eventually snowballs and can include elements of conspiracy theories. 

For example, at one point, discussion of reinforcement permits became banned. In response, residents exchanged rumours about the possibility of the state providing partial compensation for the costs of reinforcing buildings cracked by the earthquake, according to secret, undisclosed lists of recipients. Furthermore, it has become impossible to ask municipalities about evacuating buildings at risk of collapse or sealing them with red wax. Questions about the end destination of building debris are also off-limits. Currently, people are afraid of asking about temporary prefabricated housing, which countries such as China and the UAE have pledged to help provide. This includes questions about the sites for such housing and potential beneficiaries. Residents have discussed that some prefabricated homes arrived in Lattakia but were afraid to ask municipal employees about this. Some rumours even say there are secret lists of housing recipients that do not include everyone affected by the earthquake. 

Abu Ali owns a two-storey building in the Lattakia countryside that partially collapsed due to the earthquake. He decided to rent a home in Homs and move his family there, fearing the building could collapse in the quake aftershocks. During that period, Abu Ali repeatedly visited his municipality and the Lattakia governorate to see what could be done, i.e. whether there was an entity tasked with reinforcing buildings or whether he would be compensated with alternative housing. He didn’t receive any definitive answers. Instead, his valid questions only raised suspicion and annoyance among the employees he interacted with. Abu Ali sold his car and some agricultural land three months after the earthquake. He moved with his family to a Gulf country. He said he had already endured ten years of war in the hopes of it ending and the situation improving. But after the earthquake, he said it was clear that the state would fail to manage any crisis, even natural disasters. 

Sawsan’s house in a rural Lattakia village partially collapsed in the quake and became uninhabitable. She and her family moved to her mother’s house next door. It wasn’t until three months had passed since the earthquake that a structural safety committee arrived in the village to assess the damage. Sawsan asked the committee members if there was a government plan to compensate earthquake-affected residents with alternative housing and how she could obtain such housing. One of the committee’s engineers responded that they had no information. She fears asking such questions to the Lattakia governorate, feeling that the doors of state institutions are closed off to people like her. 

Mohammad is a financially well-off man who owns an old house in Lattakia. A consulting engineer whom Mohammad hired at his own expense after the earthquake advised that the house was no longer habitable. Mohammad and his family left the house and rented a home in the Lattakia countryside, fearing returning to the damaged building would be dangerous. Meanwhile, the governorate refused to grant Mohammad a permit to reinforce his home and barred him from reinforcing it without a permit. Instead, Mohammad decided to reinforce the back of the building without a licence because it is not visible from the street, so the structural safety committees could not monitor it. His attempts to obtain a legal reinforcement permit for the front of the building were unsuccessful. He said the state employees have been unpredictable and make decisions that do not benefit people, leaving them vulnerable to various risks. According to Mohammad, residents have been left to their own devices to face the earthquake aftermath, as well as an authoritarian government that does not care about them. The governorate often issues contradictory decisions, sometimes facilitating reinforcement permits or restricting them without good reason.  

Samer and his family live in Lattakia. Their entire building showed evident cracks from the earthquake. When Samer wanted to submit a request to the municipality for inspection and evaluation of whether the building was safely habitable, other building residents barred him from doing so, fearing involvement with municipal bureaucracy and the safety committees. Samer’s neighbours worried that if the building underwent inspection, the municipality could force them to evacuate their homes or that they might have to reinforce the structure at their own expense. 

Riyad and Bahaa, two brothers, also found cracks in their building, where they live in adjacent apartments. All of the building residents evacuated to nearby shelter centres. The municipality still has not inspected their building, and the brothers have nowhere to live. So they decided to return to their apartments, despite the risk of the building collapsing. Bahaa says living in a dangerous home is better than waiting in uncertainty at a shelter centre. 

Finally, Shaymaa is from Lattakia, where the building she and her family live in collapsed, killing some family members. Shaymaa is currently staying with remaining family members scattered across relatives’ homes. She heard recently that China would provide prefabricated alternative housing to earthquake-affected Lattakia residents but later heard from a relative that the homes were not meant for families. Instead, her relative told her the homes would be small and go to individuals. Shaymaa is afraid of asking the governorate for more information and says no officials have informed her about any potential alternative housing.

Damascus to Evict Residents in Upscale District, Establish Instead Public Park

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In early March, the Ministry of Tourism issued a warning to residents of the Kiwan plot of land, which belongs administratively to the Mazzeh area district of Damascus, ordering them to leave within six months so that a public park can be established in their place. 

Kiwan

The Kiwan land extends from the Al-Jamarek Square (Customs Square) to the foot of Mount Qasioun and has an area of around 20 hectares. The Sheraton Damascus hotel was built on part of that land in the 1970s. Originally, this plot of land surrounded the historic Kiwan neighbourhood established in the early 1900s. It was home to traditional Arab-style houses, a historic mill, a mosque and the home of Syrian theatre pioneer Abu Khalil Al-Qabbani.  

There appears to be a dispute between the Damascus governorate and the Ministry of Tourism over the land. The first expropriation there dates back to 1973 via Decree No. 1976, and a second via Decree No. 563 of 1974 covering additional land. Both of these expropriation decrees were issued to benefit the Ministry of Tourism to establish a tourism project, while the Directorate of Planning and Urbanisation in the Damascus governorate kept Kiwan’s description as agricultural land and prohibited construction there in order to preserve the green area in the capital. As a result, the ministry didn’t implement any project, while the governorate stopped issuing construction permits there and prevented renovation of existing buildings, which led to informal settlements. 

Then in the early 2000s, the Directorate of Planning and Urbanisation changed the description of the Kiwan land from agricultural to investment, offering it for real estate investment. In 2005, the Ministry of Tourism offered up 15 hectares of land in Kiwan to establish a tourist-commercial investment project that included hotels, art and heritage exhibition halls and restaurants. Then in 2007, the ministry signed a “Build-Operate-Transfer” (BOT) investment contract for the project with the Kuwaiti Al-Kharafi Group, to establish a tourist complex on a six-hectare patch of land in Kiwan. The estimated cost of the project was USD 217 million, to be implemented within three years. The Kuwaiti company would operate and invest in the project for 45 years before returning it to the Ministry of Tourism. In 2010, Al-Kharafi Group established Kiwan Tourism Investment Company to implement the project, but the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011 caused it to halt.

Public park

The Ministry of Tourism has also proposed an environmental park project in Kiwan since 2004, to be a site for tourism, heritage, cultural events, art exhibitions, an eco-heritage hotel, water features and cafeteria. In 2007, the Damascus Governorate  issued decision No. 891 allocating an area of six hectares in Kiwan for the project. 

Between 2011 and 2016, the ministry contracted with the private International University to use parts of the area that had been allocated for the park. However, a legal dispute arose between the two sides over contract violations and ended in the ministry’s favour, with the university being expelled from the site. 

Later, in November 2019, the Higher Tourism Council headed by the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 438 to establish the environmental park on 15 hectares of land in Kiwan, jointly with the Damascus governorate. The contract included allocating 1.5 hectares for tourism investment and to set up recreational activities, a terraced cafeteria and a heritage hotel. 

The agreement also included redistributing the ownership of Kiwan land between the governorate and the Ministry of Tourism, with the governorate owning 13.5 hectares, and the remaining area to be owned by the ministry. According to the agreement, the governorate is responsible for providing infrastructure for the park, while the ministry provides alternative housing for residents.

The Ministry of Tourism also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Federal Science Foundation in Crimea, to enhance tourism cooperation between the two in the field of eco-tourism and benefit from the foundation’s experience in establishing parks and eco-tourism sites. This would include the Kiwan environmental park project, the state-run SANA news agency reported in November 2022. Russia occupied the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and established a republic there under its control.

Alternative housing

In early March, the Ministry of Tourism issued warnings to 20 residents in Kiwan who were living within the area designated for the environmental park. Then on March 8, 2023, the Minister of Tourism said in a radio interview that the residents must evacuate their homes and move to alternative housing in the Qudsaya suburb  in the countryside of Damascus. The Minister explained that the Ministry of Tourism had previously contracted with the General Housing Establishment and purchased residential buildings in the Qudsaya suburb, allocating 175 housing units for Kiwan evacuees and those eligible for alternative housing. So far 90 units have been delivered, and the rest will be handed over gradually. He added that no one is given eviction notices before alternative housing is secured for them.

That said, alternative housing is not provided free of charge, and those eligible for it must pay the cost in monthly instalments over 25 years, a former official in the Ministry of Tourism said in November 2019. 

While it is clear, based on official statements, that 175 families in Kiwan are eligible for alternative housing, it is not clear how many properties are subject to demolition, the total number of residents in the area who are not eligible for alternative housing, or their housing conditions. In all official statements, the law on which the Ministry of Tourism relied to secure alternative housing for these 175 people was never mentioned.

Explained: The Directorate of Planning and Urbanisation in Damascus Governorate

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The Directorate of Planning and Urbanisation is part of the municipal services at the Damasus governorate. It is tasked mainly with preparing and following up on the city’s general zoning draft plan. The directorate also puts in place the city’s planning and expropriation draft plans and follows up on procedures for approval. 

The directorate is in charge of planning, implementation and supervision, tasks that give it wide-reaching powers that often affect housing, land and property rights. For example, 40 years ago the directorate made an expropriation plan for properties in the RuknEddin informal settlement, located at the foot of Mount Qasioun, in order to widen certain streets and build a school. Though the area underwent expropriation, this project has not yet been implemented. Instead, these properties have fallen into disrepair and heirs have been barred from restoring them. A similar problem happened in the Midan neighbourhood of Damascus, when some properties were expropriated in order to widen local streets. 

The directorate is also responsible for classifying districts within the capital as residential, commercial or agricultural. This task includes keeping some areas, such as Basateen Al-Razi and Basateen Kiwan in the Mazzeh area classified as agricultural land despite being located in the heart of Damascus, under the pretext of maintaining green spaces in the capital. Property owners in these areas have therefore been unable to obtain construction permits. As a result, informal settlements were established in these formerly green areas that grew without regulation. In the early 2000s, however, the directorate reneged and decided to change the classification of Basateen Kiwan from an agricultural area into a real estate investment area, and offered real estate there for investment without any justification. Later, Legislative Decree No. 66 of 2012, which created two zoned real estate areas within the general zoning plan for Damascus, allowed for the governorate to transform Basateen Al-Razi and its surroundings into Marota City. 

In addition, the directorate is responsible for securing alternative housing (which is not provided for free) to eligible residents, as well as following up on the procedures for distributing the homes. That said, the handover of alternative housing units usually faces years-long delays and in many cases the homes are located outside the administrative boundaries of Damascus. The 1990s saw the Four Seasons Hotel built on land expropriated by the Damascus governorate in the downtown Zuqaq Al-Sakhr neighbourhood — but owners of those expropriated properties were given alternative housing in the Qudsaya suburb. And residents entitled to alternative housing in the Marota and Basilia City projects are still waiting, seven years after eviction, for homes that will be constructed at their own expense. 

The Directorate of Planning and Urbanisation also prepares and follows up on studies related to health and the environment, though it does not appear to be fulfilling this duty to the greatest extent possible. For example, construction on the Yazid River water treatment plant in Damascus’ RuknEddin neighbourhood, as well as the sewage treatment plant in Dummar, located west of Damascus, was completed in the early 2000s. However, they remain out of service to this day, allowing untreated sewage water to be pumped directly into the Barada River. 

The Licensing and Construction Department affiliated with the Directorate of Planning and Urbanisation, is in charge of issuing permits for a multitude of construction and demolition projects. This department receives and records applications for construction permits and follows up on issuing them. It also issues orders to start construction. As well as permits for demolition, constructing fortifications (such as walls around or above a building), modifying stairwells, constructing sheds on existing buildings and installing fuel tanks.

The directorate also works to set construction permit fees and improvement fees, and has the authority to halt construction projects due to failure to complete the permit process or pay the necessary fees. 

Finally, the directorate is responsible for setting and implementing the system of building codes for Damascus city, which was issued in 1997. This system is a set of administrative decisions issued by local administrative units and approved by the governorates and the Ministry of Public Works and Housing. It determines the conditions that must be met for construction, repair and demolition of buildings and other facilities within those administrative units. 

Temporary Housing for Syria’s Earthquake-Impacted Residents

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Since the first days following the February 6 earthquake, Syrian officials have issued statements saying they would secure alternative housing for people in regime-held areas whose homes had collapsed completely or were at risk of collapse due to cracks. But as more time has passed, officials have begun using a different term: temporary housing for residents of shelter centres. 

Alternative housing is a loose term that usually refers to non-free housing implemented by the General Housing Establishment (GHE) as part of the country’s social housing programmes. Residents of informal settlements may apply to receive such housing if their homes are expropriated or demolished or if their neighbourhoods are re-zoned. However, Syrian law does not stipulate any rights to alternative housing for those whose homes have been affected by natural disasters. 

While temporary alternative housing or temporary housing, according to official statements, are new terms describing prefabricated housing units that will be transported to earthquake-affected governorates and will apply to people currently staying in shelter centres. A typical unit consists of one or two rooms. 

It remains unclear who will pay for setting up and transporting these units, how they will be distributed, and who will benefit from them. Some official statements have said they welcome foreign aid to fund the construction of housing units and the provision of ready-made ones. Some statements have also been vague and contradictory in terms of where the units will be set up, how many there will be and their prices and costs. Also, it is unclear what the eventual fate of these prefabricated housing units will be, who owns them and whether they will be dismantled at some point in the future. 

The government’s approach appears to have gradually abandoned talk of alternative housing in its long-term sense (as well as any related rights for residents) in favour of focusing on prefabricated housing units to be used as temporary alternatives to the shelter centres. This concept has gradually developed over the past several weeks and appears to both fall in line with the government’s financial capabilities and lighten popular pressure by securing some housing units for affected residents. But this is a medium-term approach and does not solve the problem. 

The Minister of Public Works and Housing told the semi-official Al-Watan newspaper on February 20 that those currently impacted by the earthquake cannot continue to stay in the temporary shelter centres for a long period. The state needs the centres back at some point to use them again for its original services. 

How many prefabricated housing units are there? 

The idea for prefabricated housing units first emerged on February 15, when the Minister of Public Works and Housing called on ministry-affiliated public construction companies to prepare 100 units, which are now now available. The minister also asked these companies’ managers to immediately procure more of the prefabricated housing units and provide them to the government. The public construction companies affiliated with the Ministry of Public Works and Housing are the General Housing Establishment, the General Company for Building and Construction, the General Company for Water Projects, the General Company for Electrical and Communication Works, and the General Company for Roads and Bridges. 

On February 19, the minister told Al-Watan that the above companies, in cooperation with military-affiliated construction companies, had begun manufacturing 300 one- and two-room prefabricated units. However, in other statements, put that number at 350. He added the units would be ready within a month. The military construction companies affiliated with the Ministry of Defence are the Military Housing Establishment and the Military Construction Establishment. 

Confusion over the number of units emerged in an exceptional session by the Council of Ministers on March 4. The session aimed to discuss “the special procedures for programmes to implement the national action plan and move to the recovery phase for addressing the impacts of the earthquake”. During this session, ministers stressed quick preparation and installation of some 400 “rooms”. The rooms would be fully equipped and distributed to Lattakia and Aleppo governorates as temporary housing for residents impacted by the earthquake. Notably, the ministerial session referred in its discussion to prefabricated “rooms”, rather than to one- or two-room standalone housing units. This could help to explain the increase in the stated number from 300 units to 400 rooms. 

The prefabricated housing units location

The Minister of Public Works and Housing also stated on February 20 that he had been given direct orders to determine sites for constructing buildings in the Aleppo and Lattakia governorates to accommodate 300 apartments in the residential projects implemented by the GHE. Based on the minister’s words, these apartments appear like the prefabricated housing units.

The pro-regime Athr Press news website reported on February 22 that 50 housing units were allocated for Lattakia and would be distributed to three centres: Damserkho and Al-Gharaf in Lattakia city and Al-Naqaa in Jabla. Each centre is between 16 and 20 square metres. 

It is unclear where Aleppo’s share of prefabricated housing units will be located.

The prefabricated housing units cost 

The deputy head of engineering in Aleppo’s Chamber of Industry told the official Al-Baath newspaper on February 23 that Syrian industrialists had submitted tenders for building the prefabricated housing units. Each unit would cost at most SYP 20 million, equivalent to approximately USD 2,700 (1 USD/SYP 7,400 on the black market). 

That same day, Al-Watan quoted an engineering expert who said that relying on local companies is better as it would be easier to transport the finished housing units and install them in their allocated locations. The expert added that there is no major difference in costs between prefabricated and ordinary housing units. For both, the cost per square metre is SYP 700,000-800,000, meaning a 100-square-metre unit would cost about SYP 80 million, or USD 11,000. 

By that logic, a one-room, 25-square-metre prefabricated unit would cost SYP 20 million, in line with the numbers reported by Al-Baath. 

According to the expert quoted in Al-Watan, such units are desirable because they are quick to set up, safe, and designed to resist earthquakes. He also stressed that the government should consider what to do with these housing units in the long-term – including whether they will be converted into permanent housing, which may lead residents to expand them and add certain modifications such as additional storeys. Such modifications could someday lay the foundations for new informal settlements. 

Government Raises Prices of Alternative Housing in Marota City

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The state-owned General Housing Establishment (GHE), which is supposed to provide affordable housing to the population, has once again raised the estimated prices for alternative housing units in the Marota City project. It also requested those eligible for the units to pay 30 percent of this new value now. 

Marota City is one of two newly zoned real estate areas established in the city of Damascus under Legislative Decree No. 66 of 2012. Marota is located southeast of the Mazzeh district, while the second, Basilia City, is located south of the southern ring highway. The Damascus governorate manages these two areas through its Directorate for Implementation of Decree No. 66. Damascus Cham Holding company was established to develop the area.

Some of the former homeowners in Marota are entitled to alternative housing, one of several social housing schemes implemented by the GHE. Homeowners in informally built neighbourhoods may apply to receive alternative accommodation should they lose their homes to expropriation, demolition or rezoning. Under Decree No. 66, the people entitled to such housing include those who built their houses on state-owned land or those who built on agricultural land within an area subject to the decree. In practice, however, those built on state land were excluded from alternative housing in Marota City for unclear reasons. Only those who built on agricultural land were not allowed to build on it were entitled to the measure. 

Alternative housing is not provided free of charge, though. Applicants must pay for it in interest-bearing instalments based on the estimated construction cost. Today there are 5,500 applicants entitled to alternative housing in Marota City, with 48 apartment blocks allocated to them. However, alternative housing meant for Marota City was transferred to the Basilia City area, in violation of Decree No. 66 and without official justification. Basilia City is farther from the Damascus city centre and has lower real estate values than Marota City. 

The GHE announced on November 28, 2022, that it had allocated 522 alternative housing units to applicants in Marota City. It invited applicants who were granted priority to attend allocation sessions in December to choose their units. Those sessions were later postponed to January 2023 due to the long break imposed by the Council of Ministers at the end of last year due to the fuel crisis.  

In these sessions, applicants may choose according to their preference which housing units they would like within the alternative housing project, so long as they fit within the allotted total surface area. Through this allocation process, the applicant enters into a contract with the GHE. However, the allocation contract does not include a specific timeline for the completion or handover of the housing units. Allocation of housing also does not mean that construction of the housing units has been completed or that the handover will occur soon. Nevertheless, the allocation contract is considered a title deed, provided that any remaining financial obligations are met. 

Under Decree No. 66, those allocated apartments should have finished receiving them in 2018. Law No. 10 of 2018, which amended Decree No. 66, extended that deadline to the end of 2019. However, none of the planned residential towers for alternative housing has been completed to date.

Applicants have pointed blame for the delays on the GHE and the Damascus governorate. And to add injury, the social housing project delays usually mean the GHE raising estimated prices for their housing units due to increased construction costs and the depreciation of the Syrian pound. In 2020, the GHE set the estimated value at SYP 550,000 (about USD 200 at the time based on the black market exchange rate) per square metre, but raised that value at the end of 2022 to SYP 3.5 million (roughly USD 580). 

For example, a 100-square-metre alternative housing apartment would have been priced at SYP 55 million in 2020. That same apartment would cost SYP 350 million today. 

On top of the monthly instalments, the GHE requires alternative housing applicants to make large payments upon receiving certain entitlements, such as upon subscription and allocation. For example, when subscriptions opened for alternative housing in Marota City in 2020, applicants paid the GHE 10 percent the estimated value of their housing units at that time. To complete the allocation process, those applicants must pay the GHE 30 percent of the estimated value at the time. Should they fail to pay, they lose their turn for allocation. 

Notably, because of the GHE’s continued price hikes, it no longer considers a subscription payment made in 2020 equivalent to the required 10 percent of the alternative housing unit’s value. Instead, it simply considers it one small payment instalment out of many. In other words, the GHE re-appraises the housing units retroactively, such that older payment instalments are no longer considered the same percentage of the total property price as they were upon payment. 

This sparked discontent among applicants, who formed a delegation that met with Damascus governorate officials multiple times. According to the Marota City news website, the governor told the applicants’ delegation on January 8: “If you haven’t paid, then you won’t live here, and the project will halt.” The governor then asked them to “forget the past” and not discuss the project’s previous mistakes, also vowing to allow the 30 percent payment upon allocation to be completed in three instalments, pending a decision from the GHE. 

Aleppo to Provide Temporary Shelters for Residents of Building at Risk of Collapse

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Two temporary housing buildings have been completed in Aleppo’s Masaken Hanano district and will house residents of homes at risk of collapse, the governor of Aleppo told the state-owned Tishreen newspaper in early January. 

The units are part of a project–slated for completion by the end of 2023–that the Aleppo City Council launched in 2020 to construct 10 residences containing 224 apartments in Masaken Hanano, in Aleppo’s eastern neighbourhoods, a source on the council told The Syria Report. The council owns the units.

However, the units were not fully allocated for residents whose homes are at risk, unlike what the governor said. According to the city council source, the council will not distribute them as alternative housing but rather as temporary shelters for emergency or urgent cases. For example, people facing sudden eviction from their homes due to imminent collapse will be allowed to stay in the Masaken Hanano housing units for a renewable six-month period, during which time they must search for other housing. 

Unconfirmed rumours suggest that the 10 housing units project was built on the site of buildings that were destroyed by regime airstrikes during the period of opposition control over east Aleppo in 2012-2016. Thos destroyed buildings are said to have been owned by residents who were forcibly displaced from the area.

The city council plans to use the units to house some residents of the informal Al-Haydariyeh neighbourhood, which is now the site of a real estate development zone, the council source said. These residents will only be allowed to live in the units temporarily, until the housing units allocated to them are completed–which in turn will not be free of charge, as residents have to buy it.

Under Real Estate Development and Investment Law No. 15 of 2008, a real estate development zone may handle informal settlements, no matter the size of the latter. An administrative body subjecting an area to Law No. 15 may expropriate privately owned real estate located within that area in accordance with the Expropriation Law. In cases like this, the administrative body must allocate a portion of the residential plots it builds to sell to the owners of the real estate expropriated from that zone.

According to the website of the General Commission for Real Estate Development and Investment, the Aleppo City Council established the real estate development zone in Al-Haydariyeh in 2010. The 118-hectare zone was meant to “upgrade” the area, which contained unlicensed constructed buildings. The area is fully expropriated by the state, and all the real estate within it are included in the general zoning plan for Aleppo city, which was approved in 2004. 

Beyond the housing project in Masaken Hanano, the city council has a number of other units in the neighbourhood, as well as in Al-Sukkari and Al-Mashhad neighbourhoods that can be used as temporary shelters. Such buildings are owned by people who were forcibly displaced to opposition-held areas. They were partially damaged, though the city council rehabilitated a number of them in 2021-2022 and they now house families who were evacuated from at-risk homes in Al-Saliheen, Al-Fardous, Al-Maadi, Al-Maysar, Qadhi Askar and other neighbourhoods. 

In December 2022, the city council began demolishing some severely damaged and uninhabitable buildings in various parts of east Aleppo. The head of the city council said on November 9, 2022 that evacuations had begun for some 1,500 buildings at risk of collapse so that they could be demolished. He added that an action plan was needed to evacuate and find alternative housing for those residents, as a sizable portion of those buildings are still inhabited. 

For those forced to vacate their damaged, at-risk homes, temporary housing is not easy to come by. The city council requires that applicants meet a complex set of conditions before being granted such housing. One person who was evacuated from their home in Al-Saliheen neighbourhood told The Syria Report that the city council refused to grant them the temporary housing usually given to people in his situation because “he owns a car.” The justification wasn’t clear but it could be that the council considers a car-owner as being relatively well-off and hence not needing support. Other people said that wasta, or personal connections, were needed to obtain such housing, or payment of bribes to city council officials. 

Government Issues Decision to Expropriate Properties in Rural Damascus

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On August 28, the Damascus governorate’s General Establishment for Drinking Water and Sewage sent a letter to the mukhtar of a town in Rural Damascus stating that the government will expropriate property falling within two real estate zones per Article 9 of Expropriation Law No. 20 of 1983. 

In its letter (Letter No. 10099), the water establishment referenced a previous letter issued by the Ministry of Financial Resources (Letter No. 5436 of August 16, 2022) and Expropriation Decision No. 1298 of August 10, 2022, which stipulated the expropriation of properties and parts of properties from the Ayn Al-Fijeh and Deir Muqarren real estate zones. 

The expropriation decision, issued by the Council of Ministers, included hundreds of properties that would be expropriated in order to implement a project around the Ayn Al-Fijeh Spring. The decision affirmed that there were Expropriation Plans for the project, and that the plans were being arranged by the Prime Ministry, the Ministry of Financial Resources, and the Damascus governorate’s General Water Establishment. 

On September 12, the governor of Damascus met with the mayor and city council members of Ayn Al-Fijeh to discuss the matter. Afterwards, the mayor published pictures of the expropriation decision and the water establishment’s letter on his personal Facebook page. 

Notably, none of these communications mentions Law No. 1 of 2018, which established two protected zones around the Ayn Al-Fijeh Spring: the direct and indirect zones. The direct zone surrounds the spring and is meant to provide maintenance and safety preservation to prevent pollution, while the indirect zone includes land surrounding the spring and the direct zone. 

Article 3 of Law No. 1 permits the expropriation of properties or parts of properties located within the direct zone, according to expropriation plans attached to the Law, and orders property compensation that accounts for the real values of properties. 

Article 4 stipulates the creation of the two protected zones mentioned above and two pipelines for transporting water from the Ayn Al-Fijeh Spring to Damascus. The direct zone around the two pipelines is set at 10 metres side, while the width for the indirect zone is set at 20 metres. 

The Law did not explicitly stipulate the expropriation of lands for both protected zones around the two water pipelines. It also prohibits certain work from being performed within the direct zones around the spring and the pipelines. This work included digging wells, transporting rocks, dirt or sand outside the zone, building facilities, using fertilisers and pesticides, paving or extending roads, and performing agricultural or manufacturing work.  

The Law also stipulates an amendment of Ayn Al-Fijeh’s and Deir Muqarren’s zoning plans to remove any residential areas within the direct zone. However, it permits people in villages within the spring’s indirect zone to renovate existing houses rather than build new ones. Any residential facilities built within the indirect zone before the issuance of the Law may remain in place if they meet certain conditions. Many of Ayn Al-Fijeh’s older historic homes are located within the direct zones surrounding the spring and the pipelines. 

The expropriation decision, published in the Official Gazette Issue No. 31 on August 24, 2022, includes several hundred completed properties and portions of 18 other properties. Most of the properties are in Ayn Al-Fijeh, with a smaller number in Deir Muqarren. All of the 18 partially expropriated lands are in Ayn Al-Fijeh. The expropriation plans for the protected direct zone around the spring have not yet been published, but the expropriation of land suggests that the plans include most of Ayn Al-Fijah and some parts of Deir Muqarren. 

Regime forces have not yet allowed forcibly displaced people to return to their homes in Ayn Al-Fijeh. Residents fled the town during the regime’s military offensive on opposition factions in the broader Wadi Barada area in 2017. In 2020, the regime did authorise some residents to come check on their homes for the first time since the conflict. These residents were chosen based on lists approved by the national security services. 

In a radio interview this past March, the Ayn Al-Fijeh mayor said displaced residents who seek to return to the town face two problems. The first is that the alternative housing project programme has yet to begin for owners whose homes were expropriated in Ayn Al-Fijeh and Wadi Barada. Second, public services have not yet been restored to the town. The mayor added that the municipality removed all “encroachments” from the spring’s direct zone but did not clarify what he meant by “encroachments.” However, aerial photographs suggest that much of the town has been razed. 

In August 2020, the Rural Damascus governorate contracted General Company for Engineering Studies (GCES), affiliated with the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, to prepare detailed and executive zoning plans for a Wadi Barada residential suburb east of Ayn Al-Fijeh. The suburb would serve as alternative housing for owners of properties that were confiscated under Law No. 1 of 2018 and those whose homes were destroyed by wartime fighting in the area. 

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