Syria Launches Urgent Plan to Rehabilitate Bridges and Key Roads

The Announcement

The plan followed a meeting of Transport Minister Yarub Badr and Finance Minister Mohammad Yasser Barnieh, attended by Muaz Najjar, director general of the General Establishment for Road Communications, which manages the central road and bridge network; reports date the meeting between 31 May and 2 June. They agreed to speed up procedures and secure funding for immediate maintenance of damaged bridges in Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor; Syria TV said the plan aims to improve the transport network and speed up movement between governorates. In a Telegram post reported by SANA on 1 June, the Finance Ministry said the steps implement presidential directives to allocate 2026 budget funding for a three-year road project in most governorates, and that the meeting also covered speeding up international tenders. The announcement also named the Nassib–Daraa–Damascus–Aleppo and Damascus–Palmyra–Deir ez-Zor corridors and a study on financing new Euphrates bridges.

Priorities in Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor

On 3 June the General Establishment told SANA it had drawn up a plan after the recent Euphrates floods, with technical studies complete for the Siyasiyeh and Mayadin bridges in Deir ez-Zor and the Maadan bridge in Raqqa, and emergency maintenance under way on the old Mansour bridge in Raqqa. Al-Thawra put the road network at about 45,349 km and, citing Ministry of Transport data, counted roughly 1,000 road bridges, 86 of them damaged to varying degrees.

Costs and Funding

After meetings with the governors of Deir ez-Zor (7 June) and Raqqa (8 June), the Transport Ministry put the Raqqa programme for 2026 at about USD 15 million, funded from the government budget, and a Deir ez-Zor package at more than USD 37 million: six maintenance projects worth about USD 6.7 million, on the Deir ez-Zor–Mayadin–Bukamal, Deir ez-Zor–Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor–Raqqa roads, and four strategic projects to rehabilitate main bridges and maintain vital roads worth about USD 30.5 million. Together they exceed USD 52 million (Ultra Syria, 8 June, citing the ministry); these are the ministry's estimates.

At the Raqqa meeting, Transport Minister Badr said talks were under way with the Saudi Fund for Development on a concessional loan for a new bridge in Raqqa and another in Deir ez-Zor (Syria TV, 8 June).

At the same meeting, SANA reported, Najjar revealed that rehabilitation of the Great Raqqa Bridge, estimated at USD 18 million, was still being negotiated for Saudi Fund financing through the Finance Ministry (SANA, 8 June). The same report lists Raqqa's 2026 projects, among them the Rashid, Mansour and Maadan bridges, without the Great Raqqa Bridge. None of the sources cited here reports a signed loan.

On 28 June Badr said the main road projects would be funded from the state budget rather than grants or loans, and that the ministry was inviting offers from local and foreign companies (SANA).

Road Corridors

At the 28 June press conference Badr listed the main projects: the M45 international road from the Nassib crossing to Bab al-Hawa on the Turkish border; a new road linking Damascus with Deir ez-Zor; the Nassib–Damascus, Damascus–Homs and Homs–Aleppo autostrads and the Saraqib–Idlib link; and a second branch of the Damascus–Palmyra–Deir ez-Zor road. He said new axes would take five to seven years after studies are completed. The Damascus–Palmyra–Deir ez-Zor road has its own project page: Damascus–Deir ez-Zor Highway Rehabilitation.

Updates

6 July 2026: The Rashid Bridge over the Euphrates in Raqqa was reopened after four months of rehabilitation, in the presence of Transport Minister Badr (SANA).

9 July 2026: Najjar told SANA that the Grand Rastan Bridge in Homs governorate was rehabilitated and inaugurated in the first half of 2026 for about USD 3 million and that the small Rastan bridge, at about USD 600,000, would open soon. He said the Rashid Bridge was rehabilitated and work was under way on the Shreida Bridge, at about USD 1.1 million for the two, while works on the Maadan bridge in Raqqa and the Siyasiyeh bridge in Deir ez-Zor continued, along with widening of the Idlib–Mastouma road and the start of rehabilitation of the southern Aleppo bypass.

14 July 2026: Badr announced seven domestic and international tender notices for strategic projects to rehabilitate the international road network: the Nassib–Damascus, Damascus–Homs and Homs–Aleppo roads and the Saraqib–Idlib link, along with two projects for second branches of the Damascus–Palmyra and Palmyra–Deir ez-Zor roads and two separate notices for international supervision consultancies (Syria TV).

31 July 2026: On the Siyasiyeh Bridge in Deir ez-Zor, an official of the executing entity told SANA that actual progress had reached 19 per cent against 8.5 per cent planned, which had shortened the expected implementation period and moved the expected completion date to 29 March 2027; Syria TV said this improved the chances of finishing within the 12-month contract term. Six of the bridge's 11 spans had collapsed completely (Syria TV, citing SANA).

19 August 2026: The General Establishment announced the award of the Damascus–Palmyra and Palmyra–Deir ez-Zor rehabilitation, with a second branch for each, to a Saudi and a Syrian company in a contract of about USD 300 million and 780 days, and said work would start once the Presidency's General Secretariat for Cabinet Affairs signs it (SANA; Al-Ikhbariyah).

6 September 2026: Najjar told SANA that preparations had begun to rehabilitate about 100 km of the Nassib–Damascus road, in a 400-day, USD 46.8 million contract awarded to a Kuwaiti contractor whose first equipment had reached the site, and that heavy loads and years without the necessary maintenance had damaged the road's structure. He added that procedures on the Damascus–Palmyra–Deir ez-Zor road had reached advanced stages, with partnership and implementation steps being completed (SANA; Syria TV, 7 September).

22 September 2026: The General Establishment signed the Nassib–Damascus rehabilitation contract with the Kuwaiti contractor at a ceremony attended by Badr, who said the agreement was part of the ministry's plan to develop strategic road corridors (SANA, English edition).

22 October 2026: Najjar told SANA that the Nassib–Damascus project had entered preparation for field implementation, with the contractor's equipment at the site, and that survey and preparatory works had begun on the Damascus–Palmyra–Deir ez-Zor road, about 425 km long, with equipment and supplies being delivered (SANA).

23 October 2026: The Transport Ministry announced the award of contracts to rehabilitate the Damascus–Homs and Homs–Aleppo routes and the Saraqib–Idlib link to an alliance of a Syrian and a Qatari company; signing is planned within the coming weeks (Al-Thawra).