Hand in Hand with the Syrian Engineer: Engineers Syndicate Cuts Audit Fees by up to 50% for Foreign Firms

The Engineers Syndicate cuts engineering audit fees by up to 50% for Arab and foreign firms, conditional on registration, accreditation, and working hand in hand with the Syrian engineer — announced by Syndicate President Malek Haj Ali at the IREX '26 opening in Damascus.

Damascus – CIP

The President of the Syrian Engineers Syndicate, Eng. Malek Haj Ali, announced during the opening of the IREX ’26 forum in Damascus on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, a set of syndicate decisions to facilitate the entry of Arab and foreign companies into Syria’s reconstruction market, headed by reductions of up to 50% on engineering audit fees for projects.

The entry condition: registration, accreditation, and a Syrian partner

Haj Ali explained that the syndicate has taken decisions to facilitate the entry of Arab and foreign companies, provided they register with and are accredited by the syndicate, and work hand in hand with the Syrian engineer.

Under these decisions, the entry of any incoming company passes through a clear gate: registration with the syndicate, obtaining its accreditation, and working in genuine partnership with the Syrian engineer rather than apart from him.

He also confirmed that the syndicate, in cooperation with the government, has developed legislation and tools to attract local and foreign investors in the reconstruction phase, that it will contribute to implementing the new real-estate development law, and that it will be represented on every investment committee.

Why now: a housing crisis in numbers

The syndicate president linked the facilitations to the scale of housing need, which he described as Syria’s biggest challenge at this stage. The figures he presented were:

• 6 million internally displaced people in urgent need of housing
• 1 million people in camps
• 120,000 housing units per year to meet population growth
• 1,320,000 damaged housing units, according to the forum organizers’ estimates
• More than 200 companies from 11 countries took part in IREX ’26

Facilitations beyond incoming companies

The syndicate’s announcements were not limited to foreign firms. Haj Ali confirmed that the syndicate supports affected citizens by providing free engineering reports for their homes, and by exempting those affected by shelling or the earthquake from syndicate fees.

He also stressed directing investment toward affordable housing for low-income households, proposing that the cost per square metre not exceed 400 dollars, in order to help address the housing crisis and provide suitable alternatives for families.

What does this mean for Arab and foreign companies?

For a development, contracting, or engineering consultancy company considering entry into the Syrian market, the syndicate’s announcements draw a practical roadmap: the cost of engineering audit falls by up to half, and in return registration, accreditation, and partnership with the Syrian engineer are required — a partnership that gives the incoming company local knowledge of the market and regulations, and gives Syrian expertise its place in their own country’s projects.

This gate aligns with the standard taking hold across the market in general, including the CIP business directory, which documents the data of companies operating in Syria, local and incoming alike — official registration and accreditation become part of the identity of any serious company in this market.

It remains for the decisions to turn into announced implementation mechanisms, which incoming companies will follow step by step before signing a first contract.

Prepared by: Construction & Investment Prime magazine in Syria (CIP)

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