Industrial City in Al-Najeeh

Overview

The Industrial City in Al-Najeeh is a planned industrial city in the northern countryside of Daraa Governorate, near the Damascus–Daraa international highway. The project is at the planning and study stage, and as of September 2026 no developer had been announced.

Site Selection

On 16 June 2025, Daraa Governor Anwar al-Zoubi and Basel Abdul Hanan, Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry for Industry Affairs, toured proposed sites for an industrial city in the governorate. According to Al-Ikhbariah, they discussed the possibility of an integrated industrial city of more than 1,000 hectares, to be developed under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model by local and international real estate developers within rules set by the government, with a free zone and logistics services, and open to Syrian and foreign investors.

SANA reported on 17 June 2025 that Daraa Governorate, in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and Industry, had chosen the village of Al-Najeeh, in the south-western part of the Al-Lajat area, for the industrial city. Dr Nayef Abazeid, a member of the governorate council's executive office, said the rocky volcanic ground, which is unsuitable for farming, makes the site the least costly for construction, and that it was chosen to preserve agricultural land and sandy land that could later be reclaimed. He added that the site lies about three kilometres from the Damascus–Daraa international highway, and estimated that the city would provide about 10,000 jobs for technicians, specialists and workers.

Objectives

In a post on X on 27 July 2026, Governor Anwar al-Zoubi described the industrial city as a new economic lever for the governorate that would open investment opportunities and create jobs, and as a step towards repositioning Daraa on Syria's economic map as an agricultural and industrial governorate.

Location

According to Damascus Radio, Al-Najeeh lies about 40 kilometres north-east of Daraa city, at the edge of Al-Lajat, a rugged basalt plateau between Daraa and Sweida governorates. SANA describes the area as holding one of the largest water reserves in the region.

Status

Al-Thawra newspaper reported on 3 May 2026 that the project was still at the study and preparation stage and that implementation had not yet begun.

Update — 2026-07-27

SANA reported on 27 July 2026 that a government delegation from the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, the Regional Planning Commission and the Ministry of Economy and Industry visited Daraa to discuss regional and urban planning and the site of the industrial city. Imad al-Masri, Assistant Minister of Public Works and Housing for Planning and Studies, said several proposed sites had been assessed against technical criteria covering land use, availability of labour and proximity to transport networks, and that the meeting agreed on the Al-Najeeh area as the preliminary site. Detailed studies are to begin in the coming phase, taking into account the nature of the land, its proximity to Al-Lajat and its location along the M5 international highway.

Mazen al-Khayrat, Assistant Governor of Daraa for Investment Affairs, said the meeting agreed to take practical steps to activate the project and to move on to preparing planning details covering the site, area and classification. The visit was part of a wider development plan for the southern region covering Daraa, Sweida and Quneitra across industry, agriculture, tourism, trade, education and health.

On the same day, Governor Anwar al-Zoubi wrote on X that the governorate had taken its first step towards establishing the industrial city in Al-Najeeh, following the start of rehabilitation works at the old Daraa customs site earlier in July.

Sources

• SANA (Arabic): government delegation discusses the industrial city site in Daraa, 27 July 2026
• Damascus Radio (Arabic): Al-Najeeh, site of the planned industrial city, 27 July 2026
• Syria TV (Arabic): Daraa governor announces first steps towards the Al-Najeeh industrial city, 28 July 2026
• Syria Property Hub (Arabic): the governor's announcement on the Al-Najeeh industrial city, 29 July 2026

Update — 2026-09-25

Ahmad Kurdi, Director of Industrial Cities at the Ministry of Economy and Industry, told SANA on 25 September 2026 that the ministry was preparing to launch three new industrial cities, in Raqqa, Idlib and Daraa governorates. He said the Daraa city would be built in the Al-Najeeh area on 1,264 hectares, on the Damascus–Nasib international road, to serve the industries the region needs and the logistics services linked to them.

According to Kurdi, the ministry has offered the three cities for industrial real estate development to speed up their completion, so that industrialists and investors can be offered ready industrial plots with roads, water, electricity, sewage networks and treatment plants, along with administrative services and public facilities. The area discussed in June 2025 was more than 1,000 hectares.

Sources

• SANA (Arabic): Ministry of Economy and Industry prepares industrial cities in Raqqa, Idlib and Daraa, 25 September 2026