Turkish cement maker Cimko has signed a $200mn agreement to build an integrated cement plant in industrial suburbs north of Aleppo, the company has announced.

The deal, signed under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) structure, marks the first major Turkish-origin integrated cement investment in Syria’s post-conflict era. It transforms mere material export seen in cross-border trade into a localised production partnership.

The facility, located in Al-Muslimiyah district, is designed to yield an annual 1.5mn tonnes of clinker and 2mn tonnes of cement at full completion. The site was chosen for its direct access to local limestone quarries and critical transport arteries that will help revive links between the war-ruined industrial hub of Aleppo and southern Turkey.

At a signing ceremony in Aleppo attended by senior Turkish and Syrian officials, including Syrian economy and industry minister Mohammad Nidal al-Shaar and Turkish ambassador to Damascus Nuh Yilmaz, executives framed the venture as pivotal in driving Syrian post-conflict reconstruction efforts.

Adil Sani Konukoglu, chairman of Sanko Holding and Cimko, noted that the investment represents a strategic extension of the group’s 120-year industrial base in neighbouring Gaziantep across the border in Turkey.

Kahramanmaras-based Cimko Cimento is a unit of Gaziantep-based Sanko Holding, owned by the Konukoglu family.

“With this investment of approximately $200mn, we aim to respond at the highest level to the infrastructure and reconstruction needs of Syria,” Konukoglu said, adding that the project will be expected to create around 200 direct jobs and foster regional human capital.

For Damascus and local authorities, the investment provides desperately needed industrial capital and industrial knowhow. Aleppo, historically Syria’s primary manufacturing hub, has suffered extensive infrastructure damage and severe underinvestment.

“Through agreements with brotherly countries, companies will bring technology and knowhow to our country, opportunities we were deprived of in the past,” al-Shaar said during the ceremony, pointing to the venture as a core step in reviving Aleppo’s deep manufacturing heritage.

The project will be executed in two main phases by Cimko in partnership with OMRAN, Syria’s state entity for cement production and building materials. By establishing on-site manufacturing rather than relying on overland trucking from Anatolia, Sanko aims to lower logistics costs while securing supply lines for building commodities subject to heavy demand across northern Syria.

The deal highlights the expanding economic footprint of Turkey in post-conflict Syria.