The Municipality of Raqqa signs a memorandum to begin paving roads

The Municipality of the Syrian city of Raqqa signed a memorandum of understanding with a company in north-east Syria to pave the roads. At the time, the local administration in the Civil Council revealed the need for external support to carry out the project of all roads, being “cost billions of dollars.”

Most of the roads and streets in the city of Raqqa have been damaged by the war between the Islamic State and the Syrian Democratic Forces two years ago, and there has been many holes since they have not been rehabilitated for eight years after it was out of the control of the Syrian Government.

During the control of “The Islamic state organization” of the city, they dug a network of tunnels under the streets, causing clear cracks and splits.

“The streets of the city have suffered from a lack of maintenance for many years and have worsened as a result of the recent war and the large number of tunnels,” said the co-chairman of the municipality of Raqqa Ahmed al-Ibrahim to North Press.

Ibrahim added; “Last week we signed a memorandum of understanding with the North Contracting Company for paving roads in the city and the beginning will be from the Mafraq Jazzarah Street.

Roads in the countryside are more affected by large trucks, especially crude oil tankers, where they suffer from frequent drilling and erosion of asphalt, most of them are transformed into dirt roads.

Most of these roads connect the city of Raqqa to other Syrian cities and governorates, including Tal Abyad–Raqqa road and Tal Abyad-Altabqa road, passing through the villages of Hazima, Tishreen and AL-Rashid.

Ali al-Ali, a resident of Tishreen, told North Press: “The Tishreen farm road, which links Altabqa, Minbij and Raqqa, has been damaged as well as being an agricultural road because fo Bir al-Hashim grain center. Adding that the passage of oil trucks and the lack of maintenance made it a dirt road.

“The badness of the road has increased the costs of maintaining cars due to breakdowns and tire wear. In cases of ambulance, we cannot drive quickly to reach the city hospitals, which causes many deaths,” Ali al-Ali said.

“We have conducted a full study of the roads in Raqqa countryside with calculating costs but our potential is limited. We are waiting for a supporting body, because the cost of rehabilitating these roads needs millions of dollars,” said Ahmad al-Khalil, Head of the Local Administration Committee to North Press. 

It is noteworthy that in the past period, the technical services office in the Civil Council of Raqqa has rehabilitated some roads in the city and countryside in an emergency manner.