A Contract with the Ministry of Tourism, According to Which the Qaterji Group Was Offered a 50-Year Sweetheart Deal to Develop the Land Where the Military Hospital in Aleppo Once Stood
In 2018, the Syrian Ministry of Tourism offered an investment opportunity on the land of the military hospital in Aleppo. The proposal involved a partnership to develop a comprehensive, multi-use tourism complex. The vision included a 5-star hotel, a conference center, restaurants of 4-5 star quality, serviced apartments, and facilities for health, entertainment, culture, commerce, sports, and the environment. The location offered an attractive summer climate with green areas, gardens, and open spaces, complemented by world-class parking.
The following year, the Ministry reiterated their call for the development of a tourism complex, specifying a minimum of 600 hotel beds, a conference center with a floor area of at least 2,500 square meters (which would include several conference halls with a capacity of no less than 400 people each), various 4-5 star restaurants, a multi-purpose hall, serviced apartments with potential for individual sale, a shopping mall (including cinema, fast food, children's games, and showrooms), various retail stores, multi-purpose halls, and offices of various sizes for entrepreneurs and businessmen.
The document we obtained, attached to this brief commentary, reveals that the Qaterji Group secured the contract in 2020, but the news was not made public. The contract indicates that the Qaterji Group established a company called "Bireh Aleppo" to partner with the Ministry of Tourism in managing the project.
This contract is, at best, scandalous. The land designated for the complex was valued at just 360 million Syrian pounds (about $100,000 US), even though its area is 74,000 square meters and it is located in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Aleppo (the area between New Shahbaa and New Aleppo).
We were unsure whether the contract includes the existing structures on the military hospital's land. The total area of the hospital land is approximately 78,515 square meters (including the current hospital and other buildings), while the anticipated area for the Qaterji project appears to be 74,000 square meters. We believe that the Supreme Council of Tourism's Decision No. 456 (15 July 2020) would answer this question, but we were unable to obtain a copy of it.
To illustrate the ridiculous price set for the land, an advertisement on a real estate broker’s website in Aleppo shows that an apartment for sale in 'Shahbaa Area, Engineers Association, second floor, corner, 5 rooms with an open view of the garden ... north-west in good condition' is currently offered for 650 million pounds (nearly double the price of the land obtained by the Qaterji family for investment, even though their acquisition is several hundred times larger in area).
The total amount the Qaterji group must pay for a 64% stake in the project is approximately $200,000, payable over three years.
Regardless of the declared and ludicrous value of the contract, the actual cost of building the complexes is hundreds of times higher than what is stated. This leads us to believe that the contract is nothing more than a power grab by the Qaterji family, pending an improvement in the country's economic situation at some point in the next fifty years of the contract's duration. This opinion is reinforced by the fact that the contract allows the Qaterji group to sell 49% of its stake to other investors, which could be done for several times the amount currently paid.
On the other hand, we do not rule out the possibility that the Qaterji family paid more than what is declared for the contract. They might be paying a pittance to the Ministry of Tourism and a separate greater sum directly to Bashar al-Assad to provide him with financial support, which allows him greater freedom to dispose of the funds.
