Restored bakery in Raqqa serves 10,000 people

Raqqa – North-Press Agency

Fawaz al-Ugla

Restoration work on the bakery of Hamrat Balasem village, 18 km east of Raqqa city in northern Syria, continues. It is expected to end the suffering of 10,000 people by providing them with bread.

Muhammad al-Faydi, co-chair of the People's Municipality in al-Hamrat region said that the restoration of the bakery of Hamrat Balasem village was conducted by the Services and Municipalities Committee of the Civil Council of Raqqa in conjunction with CHF (an international non-governmental organization working in the city of Raqqa), and in partnership with al-Jaafar company for technical undertakings at an amount of $200,000.   

Al-Faydi indicated that in addition to cement materials, the CHF provided all machinery for the bakery, while al-Jaafar supervised the work through a technical contractor. 20 workers are engaged in dismantling, installation, restoration, and restructure. 

Work to rehabilitate the bakery of Hamrat Balasem village began on April 1st, and the work is expected to be completed at the end of this month, according to al-Faydi.   

For nearly seven years, 10,000 people from Hamrat Balasem village had been forced to go to the neighboring villages to obtain bread.    

Ibrahim al-Youssef, a resident of Hamrat Balasem village, said: "We are suffering from a crisis in obtaining bread from bakeries in adjacent villages due to the large number of people, and sometimes we do not get a sufficient amount", hoping that the rehabilitation of the bakery will be completed sooner.    

The bakery of Hamrat Balasem village was subjected to destruction and some of its equipment was looted by armed opposition groups during their control of the eastern countryside of Raqqa in 2013, and then looted what remained later by the Islamic State when it took control of the area in 2015.