industrial_zone – Syria Report

Owners of unlicensed factories and workshops in the city of Darayya in rural Damascus countryside called for the zoning of their area at a meeting with members of the Damascus and Rural Damascus Chamber of Industry in early November 2023. This area, as reported by the state-run Al-Baath newspaper on November 5, encompasses 450 facilities spread over 147 hectares.

Hikmat Al-Azab, the head of the Development Committee in Darayya and a member of the Parliament for the city, explained to the newspaper that these factories are situated on agricultural land, which complicates obtaining administrative and industrial licences and deprives them of investment benefits.

A correspondent for The Syria Report explained that this cluster of factories is located behind the Town Center commercial complex on the Damascus-Daraa international road. These unlicensed factories are built on unzoned agricultural land where construction is prohibited. The boundaries of this industrial area are unclear due to its overlap with informal settlements intertwined with Darayya city and Al-Qadam neighbourhood of Damascus, which has become part of the second-zoned real estate area of Damascus, known as Basilia City and was established under Decree No. 66 of 2012.

Mazhar Al-Sharbaji, former mayor of Darayya and former head of the Engineers Division in the Rural Damascus governorate, told The Syria Report that the lands behind the Town Center area are private agricultural properties extending to Darayya city. Some owners possess various land ownership documents, including court rulings and deeds. Meanwhile, the rest of the land is still undivided common properties.

This area was not destroyed during the war, though regime forces plundered some parts of it. During the war, some people built unlicensed dwellings on their own lands.

This contrasts with what happened in the neighbouring city of Darayya, which was besieged by regime forces from 2012 to 2016, leading to the forced displacement of its entire population after entire neighbourhoods were flattened due to aerial bombardment by regime forces. In August 2018, the Rural Damascus governorate announced that residents could return to Darayya, provided they submitted documents proving property ownership within the city and obtained prior security clearance. The partial return of residents began in mid-2019.

Mr Sharbaji told The Syria Report that the lands on which the industrial complex is located are unzoned, except in two areas. The first is the area surrounding the Damascus-Daraa international highway, known as the southern entrance to Damascus, which was zoned in 2003. Here, tourist, commercial and industrial projects such as the Town Center, International School of Choueifat, Al-Methalya Food LLC and Tuffaha Bakery were established. The second zoned area is Al-Nazal neighbourhood behind Town Center, which includes factories and craft workshops affiliated with the Darayya City Council. In the vicinity of these zoned areas, unlicensed industrial and craft factories and workshops built on unzoned agricultural land extended to the Al-Qadam neighbourhood of Damascus. Successive municipal authorities in Darayya and in the governorates of Damascus and Rural Damascus turned a blind eye to these violations, despite some being large factories like Ice Man, Khalil Plastics and industrial warehouses, according to Mr Sharbaji. Some of these facilities obtained exceptions for their construction. However, in reality, they remained unlicensed and were built on unzoned agricultural land.

Notably, the owners of factories behind the Town Center, during their meeting with the members of the Damascus and Rural Damascus Chamber of Industry, requested the implementation of Cabinet Circular No. 10/15/B issued on April 19, 2023, to resolve issues related to the administrative and industrial licensing of their factories and to facilitate their access to investment benefits. However, Circular No. 10 is problematic as it restricts the licensing of all types of industrial establishments, including those based on the processing of agricultural products, to cities and industrial areas only.

This led to the suspension of dozens of facilities outside these designated industrial cities and areas, whose owners had previously obtained preliminary approvals before the circular was issued. Implementing Circular No. 10 effectively means that none of the workshops and factories in the area behind the Town Center will be licensed. Despite media coverage in pro-government outlets, Circular No. 10 has not been published in the Official Gazette or any official government website.

Recent years have seen industrial zones established on agricultural lands in rural northern parts of the Aleppo governorate controlled by the Syrian Interim Government (SIG). These zones are spread out across the countryside outside Al-Bab, Al-Rai, Azaz, Jarablus, Maraa, and Souran and are known as industrial cities.

Legislative Decree No. 57 of 2004 regarding the establishment of industrial cities in Syria, as well as Legislative Decree No. 22 of 2013, which amended it, stipulated establishing just four industrial cities: the Sheikh Najjar Industrial City in Aleppo governorate, the Hasya Industrial City in Homs governorate, the Adra Industrial City in Rural Damascus governorate and another one in Deir-ez-Zor governorate. Under Decree No. 22, these industrial cities are legal entities with financial and administrative independence. However, they are affiliated with the Ministry of Local Administration. They are treated as if they were actual cities managed by a city council and a governor. Members of these city councils include the relevant governorate’s finance directors, electricity companies and service directorates. Later, these industrial cities were run under the provisions of Local Administration Law No. 107 of 2011. Decree No. 22 also authorises the establishment of new industrial cities based on proposals by the minister and per regional planning trends and regulatory principles for urban planning. Decree No. 57 affirmed that administrative entities must complete the infrastructure for industrial cities and equip them with all the needed services and facilities such as electricity, water, roads, sewage networks, communications, civil defence centres, police, rehabilitation and training centres and medical centres. This all comes before licensing the area’s subdivisions and offering them for investment.

Meanwhile, the regulations for industrial zones are subject to various laws, the latest of which is Prime Ministerial Decision No. 66 of 2018 on the system for establishing, implementing and investing in industrial and craft zones within administrative units. Under Decision No. 66, industrial zones should be on lands owned by the state or local administrative units or on confiscated lands. This Decision also stipulated that the implementing party comply with the approved general and detailed zoning plans for the area, following regional planning guidelines. Decision No. 66 did not grant independent legal status to industrial zones, instead classifying them as falling within local administrative units.

Authorities in opposition-held areas in Syria no longer adhere to the laws and decrees most recently issued by Damascus. However, according to the previous and existing laws, the newly established industrial clusters in rural northern Aleppo governorate cannot be considered industrial cities but industrial zones. These zones were built on agricultural lands where construction was not permitted according to the local zoning plans. Some of these lands were privately owned, purchased from the owners and converted into multiple subdivisions designated for construction, as in Maraa and Souran. Others were built on abandoned public lands where local residents were entitled to usufruct, such as in the case of Al-Rai and Azaz.

Further, those constructing these industrial zones did not consider their location concerning neighbouring residential communities. Under Decision No. 66, local administrative units must choose the site of an industrial zone after considering the zoning principles, environmental criteria and proximity to residential communities. Such zones must not be expanded on agricultural lands, as this would violate housing, land, and property rights due to damage to agricultural lands and neighbouring residential communities.

Decision No. 66 also required local administrative units to put zoning and subdivision plans for industrial zones that comply with the general zoning plans and allow multi-storey buildings to accommodate industrial production. However, the new industrial zones in rural northern Aleppo did not consider the area’s general zoning plans, despite having their own specific plans. This means a total deviation from such zoning plans and construction of buildings without adhering to technical conditions on agricultural lands, which might not be suitable for multi-storey construction.

Furthermore, the plots within these new industrial zones were sold without imposing special conditions on the buyers. Instead, buyers were enticed to make the purchases by being granted commercial entry into Turkey if they agreed to set up their facilities within these industrial zone plots. As a result, most buyers ended up simply reselling their plots as they intended to profit and obtain commercial entry permits into Turkey. More than half of the plots within these new industrial zones have, as a result, remained without constructing any industrial facilities on them. Decree No. 22 prohibited selling unconstructed plots within industrial cities more than once after fully paying their value to the industrial city. Buyers were also required to commit to building on their plots according to the regulations of the industrial city. Selling subdivisions after the completion of construction is allowed with the approval of the industrial city management.

Posts

Demands for Zoning an Informal Industrial Area Near Damascus

Industrial Zones in Opposition-Held Territory