DAMASCUS: Controversy has erupted over plans to build a four-lane highway along the Old City walls in Damascus, with municipal officials contending that the road will ease traffic congestion in this chaotic metropolis, while critics say it will damage the heritage of one of the world's oldest cities.
The planned highway is intended to facilitate access to the Old City, whose narrow alleys and colorful souks form a sharp contrast to the 1960s high-rises and half-finished concrete structures in newer districts of this city of five million.
"Building the new road will help to resolve many of the Old City's problems," Bassam Jayroudieh, the city council member responsible for the historic district, said in an interview. "It will increase the city's tourism potential and provide new opportunities for the inhabitants of the Old City."
But critics say that the construction of a road 30 to 40 meters, or about 100 to 130 feet, wide along a stretch of just 1.5 kilometers, or one 1 mile, will do nothing to resolve a citywide congestion problem and will damage the city's unique heritage.
"The project will inevitably entail the destruction of many houses," said Mouaffak Doughman, former director of the municipality's office that deals with preservation and development of the Old City, a Unesco World Heritage site.
"It will increase pollution, which is likely to affect the structure of the Old City. In addition, the area where the road is to be built has an important economic, social and cultural value, which will all be affected."
The area slated for redevelopment lies around Al Malik Faisal Street on the banks of the Barada River, north of the city walls. It is a crowded neighborhood with bustling markets, small workshops, shops and homes that developed over the centuries.
A recent study commissioned by the Damascus City Council concluded that few of the buildings in the area have historical value.
But critics contest this, saying the district contains centuries-old mosques, bathhouses, and houses dating back to medieval and Ottoman times. In addition, they argue, in a historic city like Damascus the value of individual buildings and monuments is less important than the urban tissue of the neighborhood as a whole.
Described as the "paradise of the Orient" by the 14th-century traveler Ibn Battuta, Damascus was famed for its verdant gardens and abundant water from the Barada River, which made life in an otherwise harsh desert environment possible. The Syrian capital is believed to be the world's oldest continuously inhabited city, going back to 8,000 B.C. The remains of this rich heritage are visible in the city's historic districts, where Roman, Byzantine, medieval and Ottoman monuments stand side by side.
But today the rich heritage of the oasis town is being threatened as the effects of uncontrolled expansion and urbanization take their toll. Since Syrian independence in 1946, the city's population has exploded; today, a quarter of the country lives in Damascus.
The estimated 5,000 families affected by the road development plan received expropriation notices in November 2006. The city council says it is offering homeowners financial compensation for their properties, while those renting housing in the area will be relocated to new homes in the suburbs.
"My family has lived in this house for over 50 years," said Abu Mazen, who owns a 400-year-old house just outside one of the city gates. "A few months ago we received a document which we were told to sign, and in which we agree to leave the house within the coming year and move to a new house 25 kilometers from here." He is not eager to move, but says he has no choice.
Many of those running small businesses and shops in the area will receive no compensation because their premises were built without a license. They will be able to buy new premises in one of Damascus's western suburbs.
An argument in favor of the project is that the road would facilitate access to the Saida Ruqqiyeh mosque, which attracts hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims from Iran every year. Traffic in Al Malik Faisal Street is regularly backed up as dozens of buses double-park near the Old City gates to unload pilgrims heading for the mosque.
But urban planners opposed to the project argue that a new road will only attract more traffic to the Old City.
"The problem of traffic and parking in Damascus needs to be addressed, but I doubt that this road is the answer," said Luna Rajab, an architect and the head of Friends of Damascus, a nongovernmental organization that campaigns to preserve the city's heritage.
The Old City of Damascus has been registered as a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1979. But the boundaries of the site were never clearly defined, a factor contributing to the controversy.
Supporters of the project argue that only the part inside the city walls should be considered World Heritage, and that building a road beside the site will improve accessibility. Critics say that the zones around the site should also be preserved because they form an integral part of the city's historic development.
Two delegations from Unesco's World Heritage Center have visited Damascus since January. They met with the governor of Damascus, Mohammed Bishr al-Sabban and the Syrian culture minister, Riyad Naasan Agha, to discuss the project and its implications.
"The impact of the works in Damascus will definitely affect the 'outstanding universal value' of the Old City," said Véronique Dauge, chief of the Arab States section at the World Heritage Center in Paris. "We have made our views clear during our meetings in Damascus. Now it is for the Syrian authorities to decide whether they take our recommendations into account."
Depending on the outcome, Dauge said, the Old City may be switched from the World Heritage list to the list of World Heritage in Danger.
Nonetheless, Damascus officials maintain that the project will improve life in the city.
"We will continue our conversation with Unesco to achieve the best solution," said Jayroudieh, the city council member. "However, we believe that no one cares more about this city than we do. We live here and we are more committed than anyone to execute the best project possible."
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From: NEW YORK TIMES _ Monday, May 21, 2007
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