Investment in construction projects will increase this year, as Damascus continues to search for new ways to entice foreign companies to bid for contracts, many of whom have been deterred by the lengthy delays in project implementation.

A host of contract awards are pending. The 2005 budget allocated £Syr 460,000 million ($8,814 million) for current and investment expenditure. According to Finance Minister Mohammed al-Hussain, the bulk of this will be channelled towards projects in industry, agriculture and transport.

Bids have recently been submitted to the General Company for Grain Silos for an estimated $200 million turnkey contract to design and build 10 100,000-cubic-metre concrete grain silos.

Tender winners are expected to be announced in the first half of 2005 for four build-operate-transfer (BOT) road projects, worth $241 million. The contracts cover the $100 million, 460-kilometre Turkey-Jordan highway, the $73 million, 365-kilometre Tartous-Iraq highway, the $60 million, 110-kilometre Damascus bypass and the $9 million, 45-kilometre Homs bypass.

Tenders are expected in late 2005 for an estimated $400 million, 750-MW combined cycle power plant at Qattineh, after the completion of a feasibility study. Construction of a 750-MW combined cycle plant at Deir Ezor has suffered delays, with the award of the $400 million contract now expected by mid-2005.

The General Establishment for Civil Aviation is due to reissue a tender to modernise the airport buildings at Al-Mazzeh to serve a new regional airline, while tenders are also in the pipeline to build new airports at Al-Raqqa and Hasakeh.

With ministry figures showing tourism income to have risen by 31 per cent in 2004 to $1,850 million, it will announce tourism sites for development at an international conference to be held in April. Sites offered will include 23 in Damascus, 10 in Daraa, nine in Aleppo, nine in Lattakia, eight in Homs and nine in Tartous.