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Profile: Expansion Areas in Aleppo City

30-07-2024/in Analysis & Features, HLP /by Rand Shamaa

For decades, the Aleppo City Council has been working on expanding the city, incorporating large areas, in the north and west, into its master zoning plan. While some of these expansion areas include informal settlements, they also encompass non-informal areas that have been fully expropriated, rezoned, and subdivided.

Since the approval of Aleppo’s master zoning plan in 2004, ratified in 2005, the City Council has prepared detailed studies and plans for 14 areas within it. These include informal settlements aimed at accommodating the city’s population growth. The total expansion areas stretch north and west of Aleppo, covering 24,000 hectares and encompassing the entire real estate areas of Kafr Hamra, Kafr Dael, Balleramoun, and Handarat, as well as parts of the real estate areas of Haritan, Al-Shuqayf, and Al-Castillo.

These fourteen areas had previously undergone a long history of expropriation or rezoning before 2004 under one of the following laws: the Cities Planning and Urban Development Law No. 9 of 1974, the Urban Expansion Law No. 60 of 1979, or its amendment by the Urban Expansion Law No. 26 of 2000. It is worth noting that the Planning and Urban Development Law No. 23 of 2015 replaced Laws No. 60 of 1979 and 26 of 2000.

However, under the 2004 master plan, all previous expansion areas were subjected to the provisions of the Urban Expansion Law No. 26 of 2000. Within the plan, the expansion areas were divided into eight areas and given new names: Northern N1-N2-N3-N4 and Western W1-W2-W3-W4.

For non-informal expansion areas, Law No. 26 of 2000 stipulated the application of its second article, involving the full expropriation of the area, followed by the preparation of a detailed plan after deducting one-third of the land for free, used for public infrastructure. The resulting residential plots, after valuation, are to be handled by selling 60 percent of them at cost price to public entities and housing cooperatives, and giving back 40 percent to the original landowners of the expropriated land.

Under Law No. 26 of 2000, the Aleppo City Council expropriated these areas, rezoning them, and divided them into plots ready for construction. The council took on the task of preparing the plots for construction, which included levelling the land and providing the necessary infrastructure and public amenities, such as roads, parks, water, electricity, and sewage networks. The costs of these facilities are added to the overall cost of the area, affecting the price of the plots that the council is entitled to sell.

There are three categories of construction-ready plots:

Firstly, plots for public structures: These include buildings for the city council, schools, hospitals, police stations, mosques, cultural centres, and sports fields. Public sector institutions are expected to construct these buildings and hand them over to the relevant authorities without any financial compensation.

Secondly, plots for service buildings: These include markets, commercial shops, and professional trade markets, which the city council has the right to sell to the private sector.

Third, residential plots: These are intended for residential buildings and constitute the largest portion, representing 60 percent of the total plots. These plots are allocated to housing cooperatives and public sector institutions for cooperative and social housing projects.

Additionally, within this category, shares equivalent to the estimated value of their expropriated properties are allocated to the original landowners, who must build on these plots at their own expense. Alternatively, owners can be paid expropriation compensation within five years of the expropriation decree.

The City Council allocated some of the construction-ready plots in the N1, N4, and W3 areas to registered housing cooperatives in Aleppo. The council assigned each cooperative a specific number of plots, distributed equally among them. These plots were sold to the cooperatives under official contracts, with payments made in instalments.

In late 2009, the City Council began distributing the construction-ready plots purchased by the housing cooperatives. The cooperatives are responsible for constructing residential buildings on these plots and selling them to their applicants. In 2011, the Prime Minister issued letter No. 14071 to the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment and the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade to complete the distribution and handover procedures for the plots allocated to housing cooperatives in the N1, N4, and W3 areas. However, the entire process came to a halt due to the revolution, the subsequent war, and the ensuing siege and destruction in Aleppo.

The Aleppo City Council did not fulfil its required tasks of preparing the plots for construction or providing them with infrastructure and public facilities. One of the flaws of Law No. 26 of 2000 is that it did not impose any time limits, financial penalties, or interest for delays in the rezoning and subdivision of the expansion areas. The law also did not require the administrative units to compensate those affected by the expropriation of their properties for delays in handing over the allocated plots or failing to pay expropriation compensation. The same applies to the housing cooperatives, which were unable to meet their commitments to their applicants.

Armed opposition forces managed to take control of parts of the western expansion areas, but in early 2020, regime forces, supported by militias loyal to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, regained control of these areas. Meanwhile, some northern expansion areas are currently under the control of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units. The remaining expansion areas are almost completely destroyed due to battles and heavy shelling by regime forces between 2013 and 2016.

Tartous Informal Settlements to be Zoned Under Urban Planning Law

14-05-2024/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

The Executive Office of the Tartous City Council proposed in March to establish 14 new zoning areas in the city under the provisions of the Urban Planning and Development Law No. 23 of 2015. The Executive Office sent the proposal to the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment for the approval to zone the areas, which mostly contain informal settlements .

The proposed zoning areas include 11 locations south of Tartous, and three locations to the north of the city. Information about the informal settlements in these areas is scarce and conflicting. About 100,000 people live in these informal settlements, the oldest of which appeared about five decades ago, according to figures published by the official press. Residents of these informal settlements are prohibited from conducting subdivision and unification transactions for their properties or obtaining building and rehabilitation permits.

Days before, the Central Region branch of the General Company for Engineering Studies (GCES) completed the topographic survey plans for these 14 areas and delivered them to the Tartous City Council. The company was supposed to have completed these plans in December 2019, according to contract No. 19 signed with the Tartous City Council in December 2018. In May 2023, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, through the governor of Tartous, instructed the engineering company to expedite the completion and delivery of the topographic plans for these areas. The engineering company justified the delay in delivering the plans due to the conditions associated with the spread of the coronavirus and the fuel crisis in the country.

The proposed zoning areas in the southern part of Tartous city are referred to as the Southern Expansion Areas. Several decisions were made to zone these areas in 2006 and 2008. In fact, the Southern Expansion Areas were included in the Tartous City’s General Master Plan issued in 2008. However, a disagreement occurred at that time between the Tartous Governorate and the Ministry of Housing regarding whether the informal settlements in these areas could be considered part of the urban expansion areas of Tartous city. This dispute hindered the work in the new urban expansion areas.

In March 2016, the Tartous City Council issued Decision No. 45, which approved the zoning of informal settlements in the Southern Expansion Areas under the provisions of Law No. 23 of 2015. In May 2016, the City Council issued Decision No. 67 to zone locations outside the Southern Expansion under the provisions of Law No. 23. The Executive Office of the Tartous Governorate Council ratified both decisions from the City Council, under its Decision No. 773 in October 2016.

Law No. 23 of 2015 outlined three options for dealing with informal settlements: zone them under Article Two of its provisions, subject them to the Real Estate Development and Investment Law No. 15 of 2008 (which was replaced by the Investment Law No. 2 of 2023), or apply the prevailing expropriation law.

As of today, it is unclear which option will be adopted for zoning these areas. Damascus might lean towards applying Section Two of Law No. 23 because this section covers the zoning aspects, which involve subdividing land into zoning plots by the administrative unit. This section of the law could be applied in several cases, including urban expansion areas that are included in the zoning plans, as is the case with the Southern Expansion in Tartous city.

If Section Two is applied, Law No. 23 of 2015 grants the administrative unit the right to freely deduct up to 40 percent of the properties in the area if the property is located outside the provincial centres and in rural areas, and 50 percent if the property is within the provincial centres. The law justifies this free deduction by the benefit that the property owner receives as a result of their property entering a zoned or divided area, and the subsequent increase in the property’s market value. Additionally, Law No. 23 of 2015 considers the zoning area a legal entity that replaces all owners and rights holders within it, and the zoning process concludes with the distribution of its properties to the rights holders according to their shares.

Rights holders in the zoning area do not have the right to choose the locations of their new plots within the zoning plans, through a process called compulsory land readjustment. Law No. 23 of 2015 also requires beneficiaries of the zoning process to bear the costs of the infrastructure built by the administrative unit. These costs are considered a priority debt, and the new plots cannot be transferred to their owners until the debt is paid.

Under Law No. 23 of 2015, a tenant occupying a property in the area under the old Rent Law No. 111 of 1952 and its amendments, is granted 40 percent of the property’s share in the new zoning area, with 60 percent going to the property owner. However, Law No. 23 of 2015 does not recognise any rights for occupants and owners of properties built on state-owned lands, except for the ruins of their homes. They may be granted the right to apply for alternative housing, which is not free, if available from the administrative unit.

The Forgotten Ayn Tarma Zoned Real Estate Area

29-08-2023/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

Between 2000 and 2010, the Rural Damascus governorate worked on zoning an area stretching from the city of Ayn Tarma to the Eastern Ring Road along the administrative boundaries with the Damascus governorate. This became known as the Ayn Tarma zoning area, or Aswaq Al-Khair (Al-Khair Markets), named after the modern commercial market that was built to its south.

Ayn Tarma is one of the closest cities in East Ghouta to Damascus city proper. It is home to large informal settlements, the most significant of which are Al-Zainiyeh, Al-Tabbaleh, and Wadi Ayn Tarma. Meanwhile, the zoning area was primarily agricultural land where construction was technically prohibited. Its designated purpose was amended in 200 from agricultural to residential and zoned as a residential neighbourhood within Ayn Tarma.

Consequently, in collaboration with some local landowners, builders and contractors from Damascus constructed modern housing complexes using advanced engineering techniques based on the Syrian Arab Code and its earthquake annexe. Some of these housing complexes became known by the names of the companies that built them, such as Al-Shimiland, Al-Taqa and Al-Salam.

The area witnessed active home buying before 2011. The most prominent buyers were from the Damascene middle class, residing in the neighbouring areas, such as Al-Qassaa, Bab Touma, and Al-Abbasiyeen, and were predominantly Christian. Rumours about the Damascus governorate potentially annexing the Eastern Ring Road area and its eastern outskirts into the capital’s master zoning plan helped to stimulate this buying activity. There were also rumours, before 2011, that the Damascus governorate was on the verge of annexing parts of the towns of Ayn Tarma and Zamalka to form the East Jobar district of Damascus. If this were to happen, municipal services were expected to improve, and property prices would increase.

However, Ayn Tarma residents did not look favourably upon the expected increase in “outsider” owners in the newly rezoned neighbourhood of a city where other districts were suffering poor municipal services and unlicensed construction due to the continued classification of the land as agricultural (where building is prohibited).

Additionally, the cultural changes brought by the new residents to the area, such as unveiled women and new restaurants selling alcoholic beverages, unsettled the largely conservative social environment of Ayn Tarma. Overall, however, the economic benefits arising from rezoning the area outweighed the cultural concerns of the hardliners.

As the 2011 revolution transitioned to armed conflict and the opposition took control over many towns in Rural Damascus, residents fled the Ayn Tarma zoned real estate area, hoping for a quick return. In 2012, however, militants (some affiliated with regime forces) looted the area, plundered and damaged homes, dug up roads to extract the copper electrical wiring underneath, and disrupted the water and sewage networks.

In 2013, the opposition took complete control of Ayn Tarma after several back-and-forth military operations. Parts of the zoned real estate area were devastated as they became a frontline between regime forces and the opposition. The area faced repeated bombardment, especially from the regime forces controlling Wadi Ayn Tarma, while the opposition dug tunnels beneath the zoned area. Overall, buildings on the southern and western edges of the neighbourhood sustained significant damage from air and artillery strikes. In contrast, buildings in the centre of the district were less affected, but many were no longer habitable.

Four years later, in 2017, regime forces launched a military campaign to separate Ayn Tarma from the neighbouring Jobar district of Damascus. The battles lasted for about eight months, during which the area faced intense bombardment from “elephant bombs” and air raids, causing widespread destruction. After a prolonged siege, the opposition in East Ghouta surrendered in 2018 and were forcibly displaced to northwest Syria. However, residents of the zoned real estate area could not return to their homes.

Many of them had migrated outside of Syria during the war, especially since many homeowners were originally expatriates. Others got entangled in proving their property rights in the area, with many losing their ownership documents. Moreover, the regime’s security and military grip on the site remained tight, making entry and exit difficult for everyone. Neither the Rural Damascus governorate nor the Ayn Tarma municipality managed to restore services to the zoned real estate area, leaving debris on the streets and water, electricity, and sewage networks in disrepair.

Meanwhile, one unusual property-selling trend appears to be dominating the area. Michel, an apartment owner in an undamaged building in the Ayn Tarma zoned area, says he has been receiving anxious calls for years from brokers offering to buy his empty flat for $7,000, which is only about a quarter of its actual value. Suleiman, who owns an apartment in the Shimiland complex, recently received a threat that he must sell his apartment to one of the building’s brokers at a reduced price, or else a municipal committee would produce a false structural safety report claiming the entire building is at risk of collapse due to a tunnel beneath it. And Hani, who owns several flats in the zoned area, says he will not sell any of them until the situation becomes clearer, especially given the stagnant property market across Syria.

On the other hand, even construction businesspeople who previously worked in the area have not yet taken any apparent steps to rebuild. The private Tamouz company has only carried out groundwork beneath the two towers for which it obtained a building permit in the district in 2021. The company recently opened a petrol station in the neighbourhood, cleared the debris from several dilapidated buildings adjacent to the roundabout, and levelled the ground, but has yet to initiate the construction of any new buildings other than the petrol station.

Since the zoned real estate area has become virtually deserted, some Ayn Tarma residents have opted to live in buildings that are less damaged, based on rental agreements with the original owners or with their consent, after securing the necessary security approvals to return. These individuals have extended the electrical network lines at their own expense, using private generators and relying on water tanks for their drinking water.

The status of the zoned real estate area remains shrouded in mystery. Rumours abound on the possibility of its demolition and reconstruction or its rehabilitation and allowing residents to return. There are also whispers about the potential integration of the district into Zoning Plan No. 106 for the Jobar district of Damascus, zoning it according to Urban Planning and Development Law No. 23 of 2015.

Yabroud to Build New Industrial Zone under Planning and Urban Development Law

31-01-2023/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

On November 27, 2022, the Syrian President issued Decree No. 308, which permits the Yabroud City Council in Rural Damascus governorate to establish a new industrial zone under the Planning and Urban Development Law No. 23 of 2015.

Published in the Official Gazette, the decree lists the real estate properties to be included as part of the Yabroud No. 11/26 real estate zone. The decree also gives the city council the powers to implement chapter two of Law No. 23/2015 on zoning, which enables local authorities to partition the land into zoned plots. These plots are pieces of land resulting from the partitioning or zoning of a larger property.

The zoning process can apply to areas that fall within any of the following scenarios:

Areas impacted by natural disasters such as earthquakes or floods;
Areas damaged by war or fires;
Areas that are impacted by zoning plans undergoing urban expansion;
Areas in which local authorities want to implement general and detailed zoning plans.

This last scenario is currently underway in Yabroud’s planned new industrial zone.

As for the size of the industrial zone, official statements have contradicted one another. A board member of the Damascus and Rural Damascus Chamber of Industry told the state-owned Al-Thawra Newspaper in 2019 that the industrial zone would span 77 hectares, while the head of the Department of Industry at the Rural Damascus governorate told that same newspaper in 2020 that it would be only 18 hectares. In yet another statement, the director of the Chamber of Industry’s Qalamoun office told the state-run SANA news agency in August 2022 that the industrial zone would be around 150 hectares.

A source from Yabroud’s city council told The Syria Report’s local correspondent that around 150 hectares of real estate had been allocated for implementing the industrial zone under Decree No. 308. The source added that the new zone would be located just east of the old one, closer to the Damascus-Homs international highway.

According to an industrialist from Yabroud, the industrial zone project dates back to 2001. The new zone will aim at hosting bigger factories.

Law No. 23 grants local administrative units the power to deduct, without compensation, part of the real estate areas included within the zoning plan, provided these areas are used for public benefit. In rural areas, up to 40 percent of the site can be deducted, a process expected to happen in the case of the Yabroud industrial zone.

In addition, Law No. 23 establishes three successive committees: one for initial appraisal, another for dispute resolution and a third for compulsory land readjustment. The initial appraisal committee estimates the value of the real estate in the area before zoning begins. The dispute resolution committee’s job is to examine claims of ownership over those real estate properties and any disputes between owners. Finally, the compulsory land readjustment committee distributes the land plots to rights holders after zoning.

Compulsory land readjustment occurs when a plot of land is prepared for construction per the zoning plans. During this process, rights holders are not entitled to choose the location of their plots. Under Law No. 23, a zoned real estate area is a legal entity that takes the place of all former property owners and rights holders in that area; zoning work concludes with the distribution of the newly zoned properties to rights holders according to their shares.