Damascus-SANA
The People’s Assembly’s Budget and Accounts Committee discussed the investment budget of the Ministry of Transport and its affiliates for 2022, amounting to 80 billion Syrian pounds.
Committee members demanded, during their interventions, an increase in the financial allocations allocated to the ministry and the necessity of rehabilitating the airports as they reflect the civilized face of the country, and to discuss the possibility of providing the air fleet with new aircraft and expanding Qamishli Airport.
They also called for the rehabilitation of train stations within the available capabilities, the operation of the Aleppo-Damascus railway, coordination with the Ministry of Local Administration to rehabilitate roads, implement dry ports in industrial cities, rehabilitate destroyed bridges, address the shortage in human resources, rehabilitate some central roads between governorates, and implement a project to build a port for fishing and picnic. In Hamidiyah in Tartous and the implementation of projects according to the period and conditions specified for it.
During his response to the committee’s questions, the Minister of Transport, Engineer Zuhair Khuzaym, explained that 53 percent of the 2021 budget has been implemented so far, and the delay in implementing some projects is due to the difficult economic conditions, the imposed penalties, and the lack of liquidity from foreign exchange for some projects such as railways and aviation, in addition to the high costs, but it does not. There is a problem in the implementation of internal projects that are carried out in Syrian pounds.
He explained that work on projects is done according to priority, pointing out that there are projects to purchase some new mechanisms, repair others affiliated with the ministry, maintain damaged parts of the main roads in the governorates and connect them, expand Tartous port in accordance with the contract signed with the Russian Federation, build a fishing and picnic port in Hamidiya, and put it into investment in the nearest Available time.
He referred to the work to complete the rehabilitation of the railways that were subjected to destruction and sabotage, putting some of them into service, and building dry ports in Hasya, Damascus and Aleppo, where some of them have been started, and the possibility of expanding Qamishli Airport through international bodies, and completing the Damascus International Airport runway project, which is nearing completion, and the Aleppo airport runway with national expertise.
And Khuzaym indicated that there are projects to create transport offices in various regions according to the available capabilities, and a project to rehabilitate new human cadres to compensate for the shortage of expertise, automate driving schools, and complete the ministry's automation project, which has been completed in major stages, which contributed to achieving a qualitative leap in electronic payment in the ministry.
Mehran Mualla
