Damascus–Aleppo Highway: Maintenance Began in April, Rehabilitation Contracts Awarded

Contracts to rehabilitate the Damascus–Homs and Homs–Aleppo highways and the Saraqeb–Idlib link have been awarded to an alliance of Syria's Lobar Commercial Company and Qatar's Al-Jaber Group, SANA reported on 23 October 2026. Maintenance on the Damascus–Aleppo highway began on 23 April, tender notices were out by late June, and a Nassib–Damascus contract was signed on 22 September.

Start of Maintenance

The General Establishment for Road Communications, part of the Ministry of Transport, began comprehensive maintenance on 23 April 2026, SANA reported, in phases to avoid closing the road. Its media office said the works include rehabilitation of damaged sections and that the road's importance lies in supporting economic activity by easing goods transport and lowering transport costs. SANA added that the Establishment's Idlib branch had begun emergency maintenance on the M4 and M5 motorways shortly before.

In September 2025, SANA quoted the Establishment's acting head as saying road-marking would soon begin on the Damascus–Aleppo road in Hama and Homs governorates to improve night visibility.

Technical Assessment

On 13 June the Establishment began a comprehensive technical assessment with the Syrian firm Lobar and the Qatari firms Al-Jaber Engineering and Frontier Group International, to gauge the road's maintenance and rehabilitation needs, SANA reported. The survey runs from the Panorama area in Damascus to the entrance of Aleppo, about 370 km, with each direction surveyed separately and without closing the road. It uses laser to measure surface roughness, tests pavement bearing capacity about every 400 m and locates defects. An official at the participating firms called it the first of a series of studies ahead of a comprehensive rehabilitation plan.

Tenders

On 28 June, Transport Minister Yarub Badr said the ministry would rehabilitate the international M45 road (a UN-ESCWA designation, he told SANA the next day; other SANA reports call it M5) from the Nassib crossing to the Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey. The notice for the projects had been published at home and abroad, he said, with funding from the state budget rather than grants or loans, and bids to be judged mainly on technical competence and experience.

On 29 June Badr told SANA that the Establishment had announced three separate notices for the corridor: Nassib–Damascus (about 100 km), Damascus–Homs (168 km) and Homs–Aleppo with the Saraqeb–Idlib link (195 km), with offers due by the end of July.

On 14 July, at a press conference for interested companies, Badr said the ministry had issued seven domestic and international tender notices. They cover the same rehabilitation sections of the M5 corridor between the Turkish and Jordanian borders, a second carriageway on the Damascus–Palmyra road and a dual-carriageway upgrade of Palmyra–Deir ez-Zor, with separate tenders for international supervising consultants. Customs, finance and banking officials took part to explain customs, financial and transfer procedures, SANA reported. Badr said the aim is to speed up rehabilitation and transfer engineering expertise to the Establishment and other Syrian bodies, and that international bidding is meant to secure top technical standards and global expertise.

Contracts

On 22 September the Establishment and Kuwait's Combined Group Contracting Company (CGC) signed a contract to maintain and rehabilitate the Nassib–Damascus highway. SANA said the project was awarded to the company, as announced in August, for about $46.8 million over 400 days; the company said work would start within 15 days and include re-laying asphalt, repairing barriers and structures, and maintaining some bridges.

On 23 October SANA reported that Badr met the chairman of Qatar's Al-Jaber Group and the director of Lobar Commercial Company to discuss preparations for the three awarded projects. The Ministry of Transport said signing is expected in the coming weeks, ahead of the start of work.

Earlier and Related Works

In September 2024, SANA reported that the Establishment's Hama branch had finished asphalt re-laying at the most damaged spots and three-line thermal road marking over about 21 km of the Idlib sector, from Khan Shaykhun via Maarat al-Numan, Khan al-Sabil and Saraqeb to the Aleppo governorate boundary. On 6 July the ministry announced rehabilitation of the 17 km Aleppo Southern Bypass, which the minister called the highway's link to Aleppo International Airport, for about $16 million over about 500 days, Al Jazeera Net reported.