Manbij needs economic investment: IDP industrialists from Syria’s Aleppo
MANBIJ, Syria (North Press) – Industrialists living in the city of Manbij, northern Syria, said that they have chosen Manbij as a place for their work due to the appropriate environment for investment, despite facing some difficulties.
Manbij has become a stable place for industrialists who fled the city of Aleppo during the war years, and especially for those working in the Ramousah industrial zone, which was famous for its auto repair and spare parts shops.
“A strategic site”
38-year-old mechanic Zakour Haj Bakri, from Aleppo, said that his work in Manbij emulates his former one in the industrial zone of Ramousah.
After the battles intensified between Syrian government forces and Turkish-backed armed opposition groups in Aleppo in 2013, Haj Bakri came to Manbij to continue his work repairing generators.
He, along with other industrialists, rented shops in an area located on the M4 Highway near the martyrs’ cemetery in the southern part of the city.
“After the improvement of our work, we have started to buy shops and reside in the city,” he added.
“Success and fame”
The fame of the industrialists of Aleppo who work in Manbij is known all over northeast Syria, and they have clients from Kobani, Qamishli, Hasakah, and other regions of Jazira.
45-year-old Muhammad Shawqi, who transferred his work selling spare parts from Ramousah to Manbij, said “there is no public electricity.”
“Most of the businesses here depend on electricity, I run the generator for long periods of time, and it is very costly,” he added.
The Industry and Commerce Chamber in Manbij provides diesel at a subsidized price of 75 Syrian pounds (SYP) per liter for industrial facilities which have obtained an industrial record, according to a former statement by the co-chair of the Chamber Muhammad Hadad.
Shawqi said he is obliged to purchase quantities of diesel from the black market with prices reaching 500 SYP per liter, because his work requires electricity for long hours.
“Opening a road project”
Shawqi mentioned that he had recently received a warning from the People’s Municipality urging him to move the equipment in front of the shops, because the municipality is paving the road.
The industrialists condemned ten days’ interruption, especially because it is winter time, and added that the municipality must to reconsider the warning and extend the period to give industrialists sufficient time to transfer their equipment.
The Co-chair of the People’s Municipality of Manbij, Qasim al-Aboud, said, “Opening the road in the area is a necessity for the residents, in addition to the necessity for a road to separate the green lands on the highway and the residential areas.”
“We will not be satisfied with one deadline, but there will be many warnings and the granted period may reach two months,” he added.
Al-Aboud stressed the opening of the road and that the shopkeepers have to transfer their equipment “to expedite the completion of the road, which will serve them before the rest of the city’s residents.”
Manbij is a city of great importance as it links the areas controlled by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) with the Syrian government and opposition-held areas.
The commercial movement in Manbij is active, as it is considered a main source of moving goods to other regions in northern and eastern Syria.
There are about 200 shops owned by those who left Aleppo and came to settle in Manbij to work in several specialties, such as auto electrics, spare parts, and mechanics.