From Angry Arab's correspondent in Syria, Akram:
"Amid
the brutal fighting between the Syrian regime and the armed opposition groups
and while the Syrians are occupied in securing their daily bread, and without a
prior notice, Bashar Al-Assad has signed a decree
that would reshape the life of hundreds of thousands of Syrians in
Damascus for coming decades. As in each time it is about making a critical
decision, the decree has been circulated and constructed within a tight circle
under cover of darkness while the so-called "Council of People" (the Syrian
parliament) was enjoying a deep sleep. The decree, holding the name 66/2012, gives the
starting signal for the development of two zones in the southern part of
Damascus with a total area of 10 square Km. The current landuse of the tow the
zones is dominated by agriculture though they are partly occupied by several
informal settlements inhabited by tens of thousands of people, who are, in their
vast majority, extremely poor and don’t have titles supporting their ownership
of their own houses.
What's
more is that the legislation privileges the real-estate developers (Rami
Maklouf's "Bena Properties" is only an example to not forget the Kuwaiti
developer Al-Futeim and other GCC firms like the Qatari Al-Dyiar and the UAE
Imaar ) in selecting the lots that are suitable for their projects and, to a
less degree, the most powerful owners who have the capacity to form coalitions
while, in practice, the only option available for the less capable owners is to
give up their lands through an auction controlled by the corrupt municipal
council of Damascus. Those the houses of whom are built illegally are obliged to
demolish their houses and deport the rubble on their own while their right is
limited to pick up the remaining of their houses (doors, windows, rebar steel,
etc…) and a meager compensation equivalent to two-years home rental and face
their own fate though the municipal council, according to the legislation, may
(or may not) allocate them with an alternative "social housing" (a deceptive
term used to describe uninhabitable housing built by the City of Damascus and
distributed (not for free of course) in similar cases).
At
least, thousands of the least privileged people who inhabit the informal
settlements (Bayader Nader for example) are there only because Hafez Al-Assad,
before carrying out his 1970 "Correctional Movement", was defense minister in
1967 when Israel occupied the Golan heights at the end of Al-nakssah (the
Six-Day war). Seemingly, this simple fact wont be of any help for them to avoid
another displacement.
As in
anywhere else in the third world, informal housing phenomenon is the direct
consequence to the institutionalized corruption and ill-governance. The same
applies to Syria. This phenomenon has exacerbated in the last four decades and
coincided with huge fortunes collected by the construction contractors and the
"civil servants". However, fearing the possible social and political
consequences, the Syrian regime didn't dare to solve this cancer with the only
method in which it excels: the repression. But the current crisis has brought
down the "wall of fear" not only among the Syrian people: especially the heavy
fighting in Damascus and the mass destruction that touched some of the
neighborhoods concerned by the development plan have apparently offered the
government a golden opportunity.
What
leads to questioning the real objectives of this legislation is the suspicious
way with which the government has exceeded the legendary Syrian bureaucratic
system that dominates the public administration: yesterday, only five days after
the legislation has been issued, three ministers along with Damascus governor
began a series of meeting to establish the "executive instructions" of the
legislation, a step that usually takes months or even years.
It is
notable that the two "patriotic opposition" representatives in the Syrian
government: the big-mouthed Qadri Jamil (who, few days ago, expressed his
discontent with his own ministry's decision of raising the diesel price by two
Syrian Pounds per liter!!!) and his trivial colleague Ali Haidar, the National
Reconciliation minister, haven't said a single word yet. Maybe they are busy in
the final preparations of their "state-owned opposition" conference that will
take place in Damascus the day after tomorrow.
For those interested in analyzing the legislation, they
can find the full text here (Arabic)."
