Enab Baladi – Idlib countryside

Traffic safety standards are absent from most of the public roads in the western countryside of Idlib, adjacent to the Turkish border, and they are mainly unpaved and unprepared for use, agricultural roads, which lack traffic sign boards, signals, and lighting supplies, and are not considered safe for vehicles to move.

The northwestern region of Syria, in general, is witnessing a shortage in the infrastructure of public roads, with a lack of maintenance projects for which the local authorities are responsible.

Since the middle of last June, maintenance and paving works have begun on the road between Darkush and Azmarin, along the line between Hafrya village and Azmarin.

The Emar organization, which is concerned with building public and private facilities in Idlib, is working on this project in cooperation with the local council in the area.

This maintenance work was motivated by the suffering of the residents of the area since 2012, as the road is not suitable for the movement of vehicles, and there are many potholes and stones, which cause damage to vehicles and increase the possibility of traffic accidents.

At times, people are forced to take rugged mountainous roads as an alternative to this vital road.

Damages due to maintenance stop

Residents of the areas and owners of farms along the road, from the beginning of maintenance work until the beginning of August, have been complaining about the spread of dust and sand, as maintenance work stopped and sand and asphalt bags were left on the road.

The plantations of Hassan al-Awad, 43, were affected by the density of dust that resulted from the suspension of maintenance work, as the dust completely covered the exposed plantations on the side of the road.

“The eggplant season was damaged in my land, all gone, and the crops suffocated because of the dust. We worked hard and planted from the beginning to the end of the year. My whole family worked with me to cultivate the land, and now we are affected by the remnants of the bags that they left on the way,” al-Awad complains to Enab Baladi.

The tomato crop of Mustafa al-Jamal, 35, was also damaged due to the disruption of maintenance work with the spread of dust in his land and his house opposite the road, al-Jamal told Enab Baladi, adding, “They came to repair the road, so instead of that, I had damage to my land and my house. The crop production will be greatly reduced due to the closing of the pores of the plants.”

According to an Enab Baladi opinion poll, six residents of the area said that after the start of maintenance work, the road turned from a road full of potholes to a source of dust and dirt, especially with the high temperatures at this time, which may cause health damage to the residents.

“Our homes are filled with dust. We cannot open the windows and doors and mop the floors of the homes five times a day. We used to endure the hardship of traveling to Darkush or Azmarin, and now we are enduring the hardship of staying in our homes,” noting that the maintenance time has exceeded its normal limit.

The road on which maintenance work is being carried out extends for five kilometers, from the village of Hafrya, north of Darkush, through the villages of al-Ghazala and al-Ramadiya, to Azmarin, which is the main road between Darkush and Azmarin.

Because the road passes through agricultural areas surrounded by trees and plants, dust and dirt caused damage to the crops, so some farmers had to find alternative ways to avoid the damage.

According to what the farmers told Enab Baladi, they wash their crops with water to remove dust from their leaves, and they may wash them twice a day, but these solutions are useless, waiting for them to be treated by the responsible authority.

More than one project

After the start of the paving and maintenance project, which is supervised by the Emar organization, the Maram organization also started implementing a sewage project in the village of al-Ghazala and al-Ramadiya, which led to the temporary suspension of maintenance work until the completion of the excavation work in the sewage project.

Enab Baladi tried to contact the person in charge of road maintenance work in the Emar organization to ask him about the reason for the delay in maintenance work, but it did not receive any response until the date of publishing this report.

Fateh al-Hamoud, the head of the local council in the northern Darkush countryside, told Enab Baladi that the reasons for the delay in completing the road maintenance are due to the installation of drainage systems to drain rainwater, in addition to the excavation work carried out by the Maram organization on the same road in the al-Ghazala and al-Ramadiya villages.

Due to the absence of maintenance work since 2012, potholes fill most of the roads in the areas controlled by the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), in light of the weak interest and the absence of government support for this vital sector, with the exception of projects implemented by some organizations.