Updating the database and qualifying human cadres, the first steps in developing the national plan for regional planning

Damascus, ST– Within the framework of the reconstruction phase in Syria, it is necessary to have a national plan for housing and building taking into consideration the demographic, constructional and economic changes, which requires the participation of all concerned parties to provide the necessary data and tools.

The national project for Regional Planning represents the key to the preparation mechanism of this plan, as the executive and temporal program for it was approved last April by the Supreme Council for Regional Planning.

Deputy Minister of Public Works and Housing Mary Claire Al-Tali explained to SANA that the plan is based on updating the national spatial planning database in various sectors especially its  demographic, building, economic, natural, environmental and cultural axes. The plan also aims to define areas of major constructional communities as well as tourism, environmental and cultural heritage protection.

The head of the Regional Planning Authority, Dr. Rima Haddad, indicated that the project of updating and developing the national plan for regional planning is currently being discussed in its preparatory and first stages. She also stressed the importance of consulting with the authorities concerned with regional and population planning for enhancing participatory work on this framework.

The head of the Regional Development Department for Human Resources and Environmental Protection at the Higher Institute for Regional Planning at Damascus University, Dr. Ghada Bilal, explained the importance of activating human cadres in the decision-support directorates in the governorates to achieve the goals of the development program for Syria for the post-war period.

In turn, the head of the Syrian Commission for Family and Population Affairs Dr. Muhammad Akram Al-Qash pointed out that the directorates of planning and decision- support in the governorates have the largest role in securing reliable and realistic data, stressing the need to activate various centers in the governorates to be the basic source to secure modern and reliable data.

M.Wassouf