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Lattakia

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Category:	Countries and Regional
Created:	Jan 24, 2005
Type:	Public
Members:	686
Owner:	OoOpS OoOpS
Language:	English
Country:	United States of America

Lattakia is one of the lungs of Syria. Most of her imports and exports pass through Lattakia, which is also the end of the overland route from Europe through Turkey.

It is only natural therefore that the Syrian government should have taken particular care to develop the city. Already are achieved: the construction of the rail link with the Ghab, opened in 1976; the of a "duty-free zone" covering 75 hectares (it is the most extensive in Syria, a third of it is already open) the construction of giant refrigerated stores; as well as the development of the port itself and the improvement of its loading and unloading facilities. The city itself reflects this urge to expand. Wide two-lane boulevards have been built to take the increased traffic. A modern functional administrative center now faces the sea from the center of the city.

The port is impressive with its 45 hectares of basins, 1,700 meters of docks, 90,000 square meters of warehouses, and its immense silo that can hold 35,000 tons of grain. There are about one hundred various service vessels. Passengers heading to Cyprus, Beirut, Alexandria and the western Mediterranean embark at the north quay. A huge building houses the Customs and Security services, the Tourist Information bureau and all the amenities of the port side railway station. Nonetheless, facilities are now over stretched by the ever-increasing traffic, and 45,000 square meters have been taken over at Squbin and another 113,000 m2 at Singllin. There are therefore plans to expand structures, improve existing equipment, increase traffic further and to reach a storage capacity of seven million tons.

It is easy to imagine that one day ever car ferries will be calling into port here bringing flocks of tourists in their vehicles. This is all the more desirable as Lattakia has considerable tourist potential, and is now equipped with a modern infrastructure; indeed, it has the best accommodation along the whole coast. Indeed, for the Tenth Mediterranean Games held in Lattakia from 11 to 25 September 1987 (following the decision taken by the International Committee for the Mediterranean Games congress held in Casablanca on 2 September 1983), Lattakia benefited not only from the new infrastructures built to host the different sporting events, but also from the building of new hotels like, for example, the C�te d�Azur de Cham resort and residence. Built ten kilometers from the town center, this hotel complex provides both first class comfort and a 800 meter private beach where visitors can practice all kinds of water sports..