The Ministry of Commerce explains the new bread distribution mechanism in Damascus and its countryside - Enab Baladi

The Director of Materials at the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection in the government of the Syrian regime, Nahed Al-Hajji, explained the new mechanism for distributing bread in the governorates of Damascus and its countryside.

Al-Hajji said in statements to the local “Sham FM” radio today, Saturday, January 8, that the main objective of introducing the new mechanism for distributing bread is to increase the number of sales outlets through a horizontal rather than a vertical geographical distribution.

She added that the ministry monitored delegates who receive more than 2,000 bundles of bread, which leads to the accumulation of bread and unfair distribution to citizens, in addition to severe overcrowding. Mobile distributors.

The sale will be maintained from the oven niches, but in specific quantities that do not exceed 500 bundles. The bread will also be cooled in the oven by employees designated for this task, in addition to obligating the delegates to put the bread in suitable boxes, each of which can accommodate only six bundles.

The bundle will be sold at the cost of unsubsidized bread, and it will be determined through a study that will be launched soon and will be permanently secured for groups that will be exempted from the subsidy, while continuing to offer the subsidized bread bundle to the authorized persons at a price ranging between 225 and 250 pounds, which varies according to the transportation fees for each region, according to al-Hajji.

She indicated that single people are covered by the instructions of Law “205”, which solved most of their problems, as she put it, as they are entitled to obtain a bundle of bread without an electronic card (the smart card), by obtaining a paper from the neighborhood mukhtar that is sent to the municipality and then To the Directorate of Supply, which will enable them to obtain a bundle of bread at the subsidized price and at any time.

The new mechanism will start in Damascus and its countryside, and then the rest of the governorates. The “smart card” will also include most of the Syrian regions soon, as it will be launched tomorrow, Sunday, in Daraa, and during the current week in Homs.

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What is the new mechanism?

The Ministry of Trade announced the adoption of a new mechanism for distributing bread in the governorates of Damascus and its countryside, as of February 1.

Certified persons will be selected, provided that they are groceries according to their number, based on dividing the number of cards produced by bakeries in each of the two governorates by the number of cards in each governorate, according to the new mechanism, according to a statement issued by the ministry published on Friday evening, January 7.

The allocations of any dependent should not be more than 250 bundles under any circumstances, because any point of sale cannot sell more than this number without a large overcrowding, according to the statement.

The number of delegates is distributed based on maps and the number of residents in each neighborhood, and each group of them is linked to a bakery according to its production capacity.

The bread sold at cost is transported to anyone who wants it or who is excluded from the subsidy in cars and sold to whoever wants from the groceries in any number, and it is distributed in a small number of bundles not exceeding 20 bundles for each grocery.

This mechanism will be applied to the rest of the governorates according to a timetable, provided that it ends within a maximum period of April 1.

The Minister of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection in the government of the Syrian regime, Amr Salem, announced, in late November 2021, the existence of a study to sell bread and fuel to segments excluded from subsidy at cost.