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Syrian mall project stuck in indefinite pipeline United Arab Emirates-based developers Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) says the long-term outlook for the Syrian economy and the Syrian consumer keeps them committed to the $1 billion Khams Shamat project outside of Damascus, but Iyad Malas, the group’s chief executive, conceded in a recent interview with CNN that it is nigh impossible to carry on with orderly planning of the project amid the nation’s upheaval. “We hope that things settle so that we can start construction. In reality, today it is very difficult to get contractors to even talk to you about potentially building [in Syria]”, Malas told CNN’s Marketplace Middle East program in early August, coming exactly one year after MAF had announced that it was starting to pour foundations at Khams Shamat. Plans for the mixed-use project, located on a one million square-meters plot just off the Beirut-Damascus International Highway, are