The News Deeply online magazine published a report talks about the Syrian regime's redevelopment scheme in the area of Basateen elRazi in southwestern Damascus. The report says over the past few months construction and redevelopment by the Syrian Government has begun in the Basateen el-Razi district in southwestern Damascus, an area where the residents have lived for decades in poorly shacks and ramshackle housing, facing the upscale AlMazzeh district.
Experts warn though that construction efforts are not geared towards repair and recovery, they rather believe that the scheme will lead to to large-scale property destruction and demographic displacement, according to the report.
The district, which has suffered from years of neglect from the Assad regime, is populated mostly by Syrians from lower income areas, who were mostly low-ranking Syrian armed forces and intelligence personnel who didn’t receive kickbacks from the government like their wealthier neighbors living in the Western Villas district of AlMazzeh.
Back in 2009, residents heard rumors that the government wanted to demolish their homes and pay each family 300,000 SYP, $600. As the war in Syria dragged on, the Syrian government eventually zeroed in on the area for reconstruction plans. In 2012, Assad signed Decree 66, which allows the government to “redevelop areas of unauthorized housing and informal settlements.” Under the legislative order, the Syrian government can transfer public assets to private companies free of taxes for the purpose of redevelopment.
According to the governorate of Damascus the project will tear down old, poorly constructed dwellings to develop an upscale area dubbed “Marouta City.” The 2.15 million square meter (531 acre) development will include 12,000 housing units for “an estimated 60,000 residents.” The development will include schools, restaurants, mosques, a car park, a shopping mall and at least three 50-floor skyscrapers.
Despite criticism, the Syrian government has moved forward with plans to redevelop the neighborhood, while providing little compensation to residents. In February, the governorate of Damascus posted an announcement offering residents of the area nine days – between February 11 and 20 – to apply for “alternative housing” to replace their homes that are to be demolished for the project. The first building permits for the Marouta City project were issued in March 2017.
The project has also attracted some sizable investments. The Marouta City project is managed chiefly by the Syrian regime, under an organization established and owned by the governorate of Damascus specifically this project, Sham Holdings. Rami Makhlouf, Assad’s cousin and one of the wealthiest businessmen in Syria, is a majority shareholder in Sham Holdings, and reportedly recently became involved in the Marouta project, according to the Syria Report. Over the past four months, private investors have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Marouta City through Damascus Sham Holdings, according to News Deeply.
News Deeply concluded: The finer details of Decree 66 and the Marouta City project have come under heavy criticism from academics and local activists who claim the Syrian government is using the urban planning scheme to reassert its control over the low-class district and reshape its demographics.