First Engineering Forum held in Syria’s Hasakah
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – On Saturday, the first engineering forum in northeast Syria was launched in the city of Hasakah, sponsored by the Local Administration and Environment Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and attended by engineers and 140 officials in the area.
An official of the AANES’ Local Administration Board said that the engineering forum discussed charting and construction problems of cities and villages of northeast Syria.
The forum was attended by representatives from al-Sharq (Raqqa), Kobani, and Rojava (Qamishli) universities, which are affiliated with the AANES, the Rojava and al-Furat centers for Strategic Studies, and the Federation of Chambers of Engineers in northeast Syria.
Suleiman Arab, Co-chair of the Municipalities and Environment Board in Hasakah, said that there is an urgent need to discuss urban planning for villages and cities.
“During the forum, there were discussions about previous civilizations and its effects on northeast Syria, as well as the current changes the region is experiencing,” Arab said.
The work of the municipalities and construction boards depends on outdated charts, as the Syrian government has not provided the local administration with updated versions. This is a serious problem, Arab added.
“Northeast Syria’s cities and its population are expanding, especially Hasakah and Qamishli, and facing fundamental problems as they do,” he explained, adding, “All these matters will be discussed at the forum and addressed accordingly.”
Villages also lack organizational charts, particularly in Kurdish and Syriac ones, due to the policies of the Syrian government in marginalizing the area, according to Arab.
The official stressed the importance of expansion and strategic urban planning that takes the ecosystem into consideration.
The forum will issue a set of recommendations to address the problems of the unplanned construction. Some irregularities can be resolved and planned according to the reality on the ground, Arab noted.