{"id":15067,"date":"2021-11-01T07:00:09","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T04:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stj-sy.org\/syria-qaboun-and-harasta-zoning-decree-no-237-hails-new-series-of-property-confiscations-near-damascus\/"},"modified":"2021-12-13T07:07:48","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T04:07:48","slug":"syria-qaboun-and-harasta-zoning-decree-no-237-hails-new-series-of-property-confiscations-near-damascus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stj-sy.org\/en\/syria-qaboun-and-harasta-zoning-decree-no-237-hails-new-series-of-property-confiscations-near-damascus\/","title":{"rendered":"Syria: Qaboun and Harasta Zoning Decree No. 237 Hails New Series of Property Confiscations near Damascus"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 14 September 2021, the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued Decree No. 237<\/a> which created new \u201czoning\u201d restrictions in the areas at the northern entrance of Damascus, including Qaboun<\/a> and Harasta<\/a>. The decree is based on Planning Scheme No. 104, ratified by the Damascus Provincial Council (DPC), and the plan\u2019s approved feasibility study, which estimates the revenues the government is likely to obtain from implementing the scheme.<\/p>\n

The DPC\u2019s Planning Scheme No. 104, issued in June 2019, covered approximately 200 hectares (2 million m2) of Qaboun and Harasta. Following the plan, government entities will carry out demolitions and zoning work in the target area, over 70% of which fall within Qaboun neighborhood alone. In the zoned area, the government will likely implement a project that consists of several residential, commercial, and service towers, in addition to investment facilities, hospitals, schools and a number of service centers for the city.<\/p>\n

Faisal Sorour, a member of the DPC\u2019s Executive Office in Damascus, introduced the project to the media through the pro-government al-Watan<\/em> newspaper, claiming that the new planning scheme seeks to highlight Damascus\u2019 identity as a city for services, finance, and investment\u2014 not as a city for industrial or agricultural enterprises. Within this vision, all industrial workshops and factories, both medium and small, are likely to be removed from Qaboun and Harasta, ignoring the fact that these facilities are the source of income of the people that operate and own them.<\/p>\n

Ambivalent Legislations Govern Urban Planning in Syria\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h4>\n

In Syria, two zoning methods are applied to areas within the general planning scheme. These methods are governed by two distinct laws\u2014Law No. 23<\/a> of 2015 and the Exceptional Planning and Urbanization Law No. 10 of 2018 (known as Law No. 10<\/a>), in addition to its associated decrees. On the one hand, the relatively recent Law No. 23 allows administrative units, including the provincial\/municipal council, to deduct a segment of the zoned area to establish \u201cpublic structures\u201d, such as parks, mosques, churches, and hospitals. On the other, Law No. 10, allows the expropriation of a property from its owners and the liquidation of its ownership into \u201cshares\u201d. In other words, Law No. 10 converts immovable property into common stocks.<\/p>\n

The Significance of Decree No. 237 of 2021<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Decree No. 237 falls within the scope of the laws of urban development of human settlements, in which decrees and laws are enforced to govern the activities of city zoning and urbanization.<\/p>\n

These decrees facilitate the zoning and [re]zoning of any urban area\u2014Qaboun and Harasta in the case of Decree No. 237\u2014located within the general planning scheme, regardless of whether the target area needs reconstruction or not or is a site for informal settlements and illegally built structures or not. Simply put, these decrees authorize the provincial councils to zone any geographical area they wish without limitations. Consequently, the councils are granted an open license to demolish any neighborhood or area that the Syrian government does not want to exist.<\/p>\n

Notably, these decrees, including Decree No. 237, function at odds with the purposes of the June 2019\u2019s general planning scheme, designed to draw the future vision of existing human settlements and their expansion by defining urban boundaries, the road network, and the uses of the lands within the scheme.<\/p>\n