The al-Baath city’s municipality in the al-Qunaytirah governorate, south of Syria, has agreed to amend the city’s regulatory plan.

The amendment of the al-Baath city’s regulatory plan had been approved in a periodic declaration and by the provincial committee in al-Qunaytirah governorate, said the head of the municipality, Yamen al-Saeed, in a statement to the local newspaper Al-Watan on 23 November.

Al-Saeed added that the municipality had approved the building height in the commercial markets area, number “2” and “3” to reach up to 3 floors and replace the brick annexes of independent houses with an additional floor.

Moreover, the municipality agreed to maintain the regulatory status of the commercial market located on the main street as a commercial one with three floors in height.

Al-Saeed mentioned that the committee agreed on raising the construction rate in the modern residential areas from 30 percent to 35 percent near the Agriculture Directorate’s building. He also referred to the discussion of objections filed by the residents and the approval of some of them.

The newspaper quoted some residents from the al-Baath city saying that they approve the new regulatory amendments and believe that the vertical construction should be encouraged for the lack of residential segments in the city’s proposed plan because the modern accommodation segment in the Syrian governorates is 40 percent at least.

According to the newspaper, some residents think that raising the modern building rate to only 35 percent and maintaining the same number of floors is unfair for the city, because the regulated streets in the modern residential segment fit with six floors.

Regulatory plan

A regulatory plan is set up to develop and reconstruct an area qualified for this purpose, whether it was a new area, an expansion of a previously regulated area, or a destroyed area for whatever reason.

Any area’s regulatory plan defines its needs of residential, administrative, and commercial centers, industrial and handicrafts areas, schools, and parks. It also outlines services necessary for developing the country within 25 years.

The Ministry of Housing and Utilities lays the foundations for urban planning; the standardized principles governing communities’ planning. These principles include general engineering and scientific bases for urban planning and construction, steps and phases adopted in preparing the planning program for the study of the general and detailed regulatory plans.

Within the overall regional planning framework in Syria, the principles lay the construction system for any population center to meet its residents’ needs within the capabilities of each area.

These principles can be amended to be in line with urban development.

The administrative body, a municipality, or an administrative unit works on preparing drafts of general and detailed regulatory plans at all stages. It is also responsible for the building systems of population centers in a manner consistent with the principles of urban development and planning programs for each community.