Reconstruction of infrastructure in Syria

You’ve already been travelling around the country – what do you see as the biggest challenges?

HF: The financial needs are enormous. Following Assad’s fall, the government’s initial priority was to assess the extent of the destruction, but also to gauge the level of commitment from other donors. German development cooperation plays a leading role in the water sector, whilst the Gulf states and the World Bank are primarily involved in the energy sector.

SG: There are also major challenges in terms of personnel. The management team at the Ministry of Energy and Water has been replaced, and a great many skilled workers who had left the country are waiting for conditions to stabilise before they consider returning.

During the war, financial cooperation was only possible with UN agencies, NGOs and the Syria Recovery Trust Fund (SRTF), which is managed by KfW. Has anything changed in this regard since the change of government? Is there now cooperation again with, for example, the state water authorities?

HF: The German Government has once again pledged bilateral funding for the reconstruction of public infrastructure, with a focus on water and – temporarily – health. However, during a transitional phase, these projects will continue to be implemented through our UN partners, UNICEF and UNDP. We are currently planning to deploy consultants to assess the capacity requirements within the partner ministries regarding the awarding and monitoring of infrastructure projects such as ours. This will also involve identifying opportunities for the German economy.

SG: Our new bilateral UNICEF project specifically focuses on strategically important infrastructure (e.g. pumping stations, drinking water treatment plants), which is crucial to the stability of the water supply. Around 1.8 million people will benefit from this. This includes 1.5 million people who have so far had to make do with less than 25 litres per day and 1 million people who are dependent on expensive and unreliable deliveries by lorry. It is important to us that the ‘Whole of Syria’ approach continues to be applied – meaning that measures are implemented in all regions of Syria. As a result, a project in a region predominantly inhabited by Druze is now being implemented as one of the first under the new funding.

In times when sewage treatment plants and water pipes are damaged, does the issue of climate adaptation play a role? This is certainly the case in neighbouring countries in the region…

SG: Absolutely. Climate change and water scarcity are extremely important issues. In the very dry year of 2025, rainfall was only around 60% of the long-term average. Water supply from springs is particularly crucial in this context: for example, the Fijeh Spring is the most important source of water for the Greater Damascus area; in 2025, it supplied only 2 m³/s compared to the long-term average of 7 m³/s. With the current project, we will stabilise the supply from wells and investigate water resources in the Damascus region in greater detail. In a subsequent phase, small desalination plants for slightly saline groundwater are also conceivable; such projects are already underway in Jordan.

In Israel and the Gulf states, a significant proportion of water demand is met by desalination plants – could this also be an option for Syria?

HF: Desalination is a complex and costly process. However, Saudi Arabia has committed to building a plant on the Mediterranean – partly to stabilise the water supply in the Damascus metropolitan area. The planning and construction will also take a long time – it will certainly take another six or seven years. And that’s without even taking into account the uncertain political situation in the region. Our current focus is on getting help to people in very precarious supply situations as quickly as possible.

Plans are underway to open a KfW office in Damascus – what does cooperation with partners look like? How are trips by colleagues from Frankfurt organised and supported?

HF: We have made a few visits around the country over the past few months and have been able to hold face-to-face discussions on the ground. At the moment, it is difficult to liaise directly with the local authorities from Frankfurt. That will change once our office in Damascus is up and running.