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SSG Draws Attention with Quickly Adopted New Zoning Plans

07-02-2024/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

Since the end of 2023, the Ministry of Local Administration and Services under the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) has been adopting new zoning plans for cities and towns within its areas of influence in northwest Syria. The ministry also sent notification memos to residents in some towns specifying the areas of their property cut by the new plans while allowing those affected to object to other plans not yet approved.

Mohammad Said Al-Ashqar, an advisor to the Minister of Local Administration, told a correspondent for The Syria Report that the final versions of the zoning plans adopted by the ministry update some old plans, some of which were issued in the 1980s. Engineering committees affiliated with the Directorate of Urban Planning in the Ministry of Local Administration and Services worked on updating those plans. The directorate, reactivated in November 2023, includes urban planning, plans and documents, and topography departments. Its tasks involve preparing planning studies, general and detailed zoning plans for cities and urban settlements, developing a land classification guide, determining expropriation areas for public benefit, and more.

There is no general plan that outlines the future vision for population centres in Idlib, as it remains unstable due to war and repeated displacement. However, the Ministry of Local Administration and Services is attempting to establish a planning program as a basis for the general and detailed zoning plans adopted by the central municipalities, according to Al-Ashqar.

The Ministry of Local Administration and Services recently formed Regional Technical Committees affiliated with the Directorate of Urban Planning. These committees are authorised to review amendments to building code regulations, consider objections to announced zoning plans, and amend or approve them. The committees are led by the Minister of Local Administration and Services and include the director of the Directorate of Urban Planning, the mayor of the concerned municipality, and three consulting architectural engineers. They may also consult experts to decide on objections to the zoning plans. These Regional Technical Committees have addressed objections previously submitted (between 2021 and 2022) to some of the announced zoning plans at that stage.

In an unexpectedly swift decision, the Ministry of Local Administration adopted the final versions of some of these zoning plans after the committees had finished considering the objections. The ministry sequentially announced through its official channels the adoption of new zoning plans for the cities of Harem and Sarmada and the towns of Kafr Takharim and Al-Hamama at the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024.

At the same time, the SSG Ministry of Local Administration announced through its official channels the opportunity to object to the zoning plans for the city of Salqin, the city of Dana, the towns of Maland and Janoudia, and the city of Atarib in the western part of the Aleppo governorate. Copies of the new zoning plans open for objection were displayed on the notice boards of the concerned municipalities. In all these announcements, the ministry gave those wishing to object a one-month deadline to register their objections. After the final decision on these objections, it is assumed that the plan will be referred for final approval at the ministry.

It is essential to note the similarities between Idlib’s directorates, institutions, and committees and those in regime-controlled areas. For example, the Directorate of Urban Planning in Idlib performs similar tasks to the directorates of planning and urban development of some governorate councils in regime-controlled areas. Meanwhile, the regional technical committees perform tasks similar to those of the Regional Planning Authority and the Supreme Council for Regional Planning in regime-controlled areas. Moreover, the SSG’s procedures for approving zoning plans do not differ from those stipulated in the Urban Planning Law No. 5 of 1982, which is still followed in regime-controlled areas regarding methods for developing general and detailed zoning plans, deadlines for objections, and their approval.

Mr Al-Ashqar clarified that the newly announced zoning plans did not include new expropriations. Instead, they aimed to establish urban foundations to determine the locations of central streets and their expansions, parks, and service and administrative centres that serve the population clusters. However, The Syria Report’s correspondent pointed out some confusion and chaos in implementing the new zoning plans in Idlib. For example, the new zoning plan for the town of Kafr Takharim, part of the Sarmada municipality, was issued on December 30, 2023. At the beginning of 2024, the municipality warned owners of commercial shops and homes on Bazaar Street and the second-hand market to evacuate because their properties were included in the public road expansion under the new zoning plan.

The notification method was relatively unusual, as phrases like “Demolish distance of X metres in length” were written on the walls of these properties. The affected parties consulted the Sarmada municipality, which sent a new technical committee that issued written warnings to the property owners, requiring them to evacuate. On January 10, the municipality sent a new committee that informed some of the affected individuals about the reduction in the demolition area of their properties to minimise damages. This committee also confirmed the demolition area for the rest of the properties and cancelled the demolition for some others.

Competition Launches for Planning and Designing Youth Housing in Idlib

29-11-2023/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

Earlier this month, the Directorate of Housing and Reconstruction of the Ministry of Local Administration and Services under the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) in Idlib announced a competition to plan and design two youth housing projects. The competition opened on November 12 to those interested in urban planning, including companies and architectural engineers, to provide planning and design studies for the North and South Youth Housing projects.

Damascus’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing has owned the land for both projects since at least 2005. However, work on these social housing projects ceased after 2012, when Idlib fell out of the regime’s control.

The SSG ministry has set a one-and-a-half-month deadline for submissions. Several prizes have been allocated as follows: USD 3,500 for the first place and USD 1,500 for the second place for the design of the North Youth Housing project, and USD 7,000 for the first place and USD 3,500 for the second place for the design of the South Youth Housing project.

The submitted planning studies must include a planning concept, a general site plan, architectural plans for each building, details of finishing, and construction techniques used. The studies must adhere to the Syrian construction code and its appendix regarding earthquakes and insulation and include a calculation memorandum for all project elements aligned with planning and design principles.

According to a local correspondent for The Syria Report, the Directorate of Housing and Reconstruction has a timetable for implementing the winning designs, issuing public tenders for their execution and opening the subscription process for housing in them.

The directorate offered two properties for the youth housing projects. The first, covering 26 hectares next to the University District, is the North Project. This project, initiated by Damascus’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing in 2005, had 1,485 applicants. The first phase was supposed to be completed in 2010 and the second in 2012. However, only a small part of the North Project has been actually completed, and 192 apartments were allocated to applicants in 2018. Allocation means signing a contract between the directorate and the applicant, specifying the location and specifications of the dwelling, the amounts paid, and any amounts remaining. However, this does not mean the building has been completed and handed over to its owners.

According to the Directorate, the space allocated for housing in the North Project is about 35 percent of the land area (including the previously implemented part), with 10 percent for service facilities, 15 percent for schools, and 15 percent for parks, squares and playgrounds, with the rest for streets and parking. The expected population density of the project does not exceed 400 people per hectare. The apartments range from 65 to 110 square metres and no more than six storeys per residential building.

Meanwhile, the South Project will be built on a 35-hectare property south of the city of Idlib, with work initially planned to start in 2012, but the uprising and war prevented implementation. The property is near the Governor’s Palace on the southern outskirts of Idlib city. It follows some of the same planning principles as the North Project, with notable differences including apartment sizes ranging from 75 to 250 square metres, 20 plots (each 800 to 1,000 square metres) allocated for small villas, and two one-hectare plots for 20-storey towers including floors for commercial, recreational and service activities, and basements for parking.

Al-Dweir Car Expo Centre to be Completed in October

27-09-2022/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

The completion date for the Al-Dweir Car Expo Centre, located outside Damascus, has been postponed to the end of October, the Assistant Minister of Public Works and Housing told the semi-official newspaper Al-Watan.

In September 2018, Syria’s Council of Ministers decided to establish a car expo centre in Al-Dweir, a town in the Rural Damascus governorate. A joint administration of the Damascus and Rural Damascus governorates would plan, zone, manage, and invest in the centre. The former prime minister laid the first foundation stone for the site in late 2018.

The centre has recently received renewed attention, with numerous meetings held to follow up on its implementation. These meetings were attended by the ministers of local administration and public works and housing, the governors of Damascus and Rural Damascus, members of the two governorates’ joint administration, and the general director of Cadastral Affairs.

The centre takes up 145 hectares of land and is next to the M5 Damascus-Aleppo highway near the Al-Wafideen camp. The land belongs to the Douma City Council. Zoning plans for the city were drawn in accordance with Urban Planning Law No. 5 of 1982.

A handful of companies and other public institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Public Works and Housing are building the expo centre’s infrastructure and removing rubble. Lack of fuel supplies and financial difficulties have reportedly been the main factors delaying the project. A fuel shortage halted work on the expo centre for the first four months of 2022, according to official statements.

Applications for plots in the expo centre complex began in 2019 and continued until 2021. The application rate for plots in the city reached 120 percent in May 2021, according to the state-run SANA news outlet. However, it is unclear how 120 percent of the plots are allocated.

The expo centre, also referred to as an expo “city,” is the first of its kind in Syria. In addition to plots of land allocated for exhibitions, including workshops, offices, administrative buildings, and a single-window trade office, there are also a driver’s education track and various leisure areas.

Land ownership of the area has not been completely transferred to the expo centre’s joint administration. The last follow-up meeting for the project was held in August 2022. The meeting discussed real estate ownership and the need to carry through on the necessary legal procedures to transfer ownership to the project’s joint administration.

After finally transferring ownership of the land to itself, the joint administration will sell and allocate three types of plots on the property: large plots of 2,000-5,000 square metres for large car exhibitions and assembly plants; medium 500-1,000-square-metre pilots for car dealerships; and small 2500-square-metre plots for auto shops.

Priority in applying for plots in the expo centre will go to vehicle agency owners licensed to buy and sell both new and used cars in the Damascus and Rural Damascus governorates. Owners of offices for buying and selling auto parts in those two governorates, as well as craftspeople and those wishing to open such offices will also receive priority.

The expo centre will feature only professions related to the trade and manufacturing of cars. In 2018, the Damascus and Rural Damascus governorates agreed that the duties of their joint administration would also include rehabilitating the northern entrance to the capital city, removing informal housing, and demolishing the old car market in Harasta, which was destroyed during the conflict.

The car expo centre project came along on the sidelines of the project to re-zone the northern entrance of Damascus and evict its occupants, according to a correspondent for The Syria Report. The joint administration is reportedly working to pursue the owners of car showrooms in Harasta currently slated for demolition to close up shop and move to the Al-Dweir centre. Previously, the administration compelled the Harasta showroom owners to pledge that they wouldn’t demand compensation for the demolitions and that they would apply for plots in the new expo centre if they wanted to continue working in the car industry. A similar warning was also sent to owners of all car shops in the northern Damascus entrance area slated for demolition.

New Zoning Plan for Jobar Erases Al-Mualameen Tower

27-09-2022/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

Issued last June, Zoning Plan No. 106 for the Jobar neighbourhood of Damascus does not allocate any plot to rebuild the Al-Mualameen Tower, which regime forces destroyed in 2015. Record No. 53 in the Land Registry, on which the tower is listed, does not receive any mention in Zoning Plan No. 106.

The 12-storey Al-Mualameen Tower was located on the outskirts of Jobar and overlooked the nearby Al-Abasiyeen Garages, the commercial district, and Al-Abasiyeen Square. The Housing Cooperative Society owns the tower for Teachers and Educators in Damascus, hence the building’s name (“mualameen” means “teachers” in Arabic). The government granted the cooperative a permit on June 17, 1974, and it began constructing the tower in the 1980s, on a plot of land corresponding to the real estate record No. 53. In 2004, the cooperative finally handed the apartments over to applicants per the housing cooperative system. The tower was located in a zoned real estate area and was divided into individual apartments listed within the Land Registry under the names of the apartment owners.

Cooperative housing is linked to social housing programs implemented by Syria’s public authorities. Housing cooperative societies were all previously affiliated with the General Union of Cooperative Housing, which dissolved under Decree No. 37 of 2019, 58 years after it was established. The Ministry of Public Works and Housing took on the union’s roles.

The apartment owners in Al-Mualameen Tower are state employees working in education. For them, subscribing to apartments in the building was the most significant investment in their professional lives, serving as a reward for the end of their service and an asset to pass down to their children, one owner told The Syria Report.

The biggest problem with Al-Mualameen Tower and other housing cooperative projects in general was the more than two-decade delay in receiving the apartments. Applicants for Al-Mualameen didn’t receive their apartments until 2004 after most had already retired and finished paying off their payments for the housing. Worse, the newfound apartment owners immediately had to repair and restore the homes due to poor construction.

The tower’s height and location made it a strategic military point, contested between regime and opposition forces. Rebels seized the building and occupied it between 2013 and 2015. During this time, the regime tried and failed to recapture it despite bombing the tower with airstrikes, artillery shells and rockets. Then, in February 2015, regime forces dug a tunnel under the tower at 16 metres deep and 250 metres long, set up explosives inside, then detonated them, turning the building into a pile of rubble.

In late June 2022, the Damascus governorate issued Detailed Zoning Plan No. 106 for Jobar and fielded objections from relevant rightsholders. The detailed zoning plan did not observe any new plot of land for rights holders in the teachers’ cooperative, which implies classifying the destroyed tower as an unlicensed building within an informal settlement. The Syria Report could not confirm whether any of the rights holders in Al-Mualameen Tower filed any objections to Detailed Zoning Plan No. 106 within the one-month deadline to do so.

The zoning area in Jobar is subject to Planning and Urban Development Law No. 23 of 2015, which gave administrative authorities the choice to employ Law No. 23, the Expropriation Law, or the Real Estate Development and Investment Law when re-zoning areas containing informal housing or rehabilitating areas damaged by natural catastrophes and war.

Law No. 23 stipulates that, as part of the zoning process, an administrative unit forms a compulsory land readjustment committee tasked with giving rights holders their shares of property in the same location as their original properties or nearby. As part of this readjustment process, rights holders within the area undergoing zoning receive plots of land designated for construction within that same area as compensation for losing their original properties. However, the land distributed to the rights holders is often not in the original locations of their properties. Furthermore, up to 40 percent of the surface area of their original properties may be deducted, without compensation, when handing over the new lands.

If rights holders file objections, prove their ownership and obtain new land through compulsory land readjustment, they must then assemble themselves and their allocated plots of land. Rights holders must then build on these properties at their own expense. If a rights holder dies, the inheritance process is carried out in the presence of all their heirs, or at least their legal representatives. Both cases require prior security approval, adding potential complications to proving the existing rights of former Al-Mualameen Tower residents.

Explained: Building Codes

20-09-2022/in Analysis & Features, HLP /by Rand Shamaa

Building codes determine the conditions builders must meet to construct, repair, and demolish buildings and facilities within an administrative unit’s boundaries. They are administrative decisions issued by local administrative units’ councils and approved by the governorates and the Ministry of Public Works and Housing.

Each administrative unit in Syria issues its own building code according to the criteria of that area’s zoning plans and based on any relevant urban planning laws in effect. Building codes determine, among other issues, what percentage of a real estate plot may be built upon, the height of each storey, and the distances between buildings and other regulations, among other things.

Under the Urban Planning Law, issued in Decree No. 5 of 1982 and its amendments, urban planning in an area includes issuing building codes for residential complexes and any general and detailed zoning plans.

Administrative units are responsible for building codes in their local residential areas. Administrative units then announce their codes and invite local stakeholders to review it and present any objections within a 30-day period. Afterwards, the codes are issued via decrees by the Minister of Housing and the local administrative units of any remaining cities and towns in the governorate. Building codes that have already been approved may be amended one year after their issuance and any subsequent updates every three years.

In addition to Syria’s local administrative units, historic city centres within such units, as well as industrial zones and tourism sites, have their own special building codes. Rules in these areas have additional conditions related to the zoning plans and, if applicable, historic legal specifications already in place for heritage sites.

Builders may not obtain construction, restoration, repair, or building completion permits without the approval of the administrative unit’s local council, which decides whether the proposed activity conforms with existing building codes.

Decree No. 40 and building codes

Decree No. 40 of 2012, which focuses on unlicensed buildings, states that anyone who breaks a building code may face three months to a year of imprisonment. Violations include exceeding building height limits or building setback regulations, i.e. constructing structures outside the zoning plans.

The decree also stipulates one to three years of prison for anyone who constructs unlicensed buildings that violate building code, i.e. by constructing more than the permitted number storeys or by removing the soil completely or partially beneath the buildings’ foundations.

At the same time, Decree No. 40 allowed for administrative units to settle any violations committed before the decree was issued provided that perpetrators have breached building code requirements, i.e. certain duties, storeys, setbacks, and surface area. In order to settle a violation, the decree requires a technical report approved by the Engineers’ Syndicate proving that the building in question is capable of bearing the appropriate number of storeys allowed by building code.

Prime Ministerial Circular No. 15/271, issued in April 2017, focused on construction requirements and conditions for obtaining construction permits. One of the conditions for finishing construction on existing buildings is for these structures to become compatible with the building code.