Damascus governorate has declared its approval to announce the regulatory plan of the al-Qaboun area and the regulatory map of the Yarmouk Camp in Damascus outside the framework of Law No. 10 of 2018.

On 25 June, the Damascus Governorate Council held a special session in which the detailed organizational chart No. 105 for the al-Qaboun area and the Yarmouk Camp area’s regulatory map were approved.

According to Damascus governorate’s official “Facebook” account, the organizational plan will be announced to the public within a month to receive objections of the rights holders and the people of the region.

The objections will be discussed, addressed, and used to amend the regulatory plan before submitting the final organizational chart to Syria’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing for ratification and issuing a regulatory decree for the two areas under the provisions of Law No. 23 of 2015.

Based on statements by former officials in the governorate, the two regions’ organizational plan was supposed to be within the framework of law No. 10 of 2018, that raised wide-scale controversy during the last months, forcing the regime to amend the deadline of claiming rights from one month to a year.

As for Law No. 23, it was promulgated in 2015 and provides for “organizing the process of land preparation for construction, according to the general organizational chart and the detailed regulatory plan in the regulatory schemes approved by one of the two following methods, the owner’s division, and the regulatory planning of the administrative authority.”

Nevertheless, the problem of Law No. 23 lies in the 30 days’ time-limit given to right holders to claim title to their property, after the issuance of the regulatory plan of the region.

On his part, the head of Damascus Governorate Council, Khaled al- Harah, confirmed to the pro-government local newspaper al-Watan, that the organizational plans would be announced for 30 days only to make objections if any.

The Syrian regime regained control over the al-Qaboun neighborhood in Damascus after a “settlement” agreement in mid-2017. The agreement led to the displacement of a large number of residents from the neighborhood to northern Syria and other areas in Damascus, while other residents were arrested.

The “settlement” agreement came after the regime’s targeting and shelling the al-Qaboun neighborhood for years, causing a significant number of civilian casualties and destruction in the al-Qaboun area.