The current debate among Jordanians regarding the Social Security Corporation (the Corporation) purchasing lands in the Umrah project is natural and stems from their concern for their savings and the fear that the Corporation may not be able to pay insurance benefits, especially after the results of the eleventh actuarial study, which explicitly states that the first breakeven point (where revenues equal salaries) will occur in 2030, which is in four years.
The reference for ownership according to effective Jordanian laws is the 2019 Real Property Law (the Law), which is comprehensive and detailed, and allows foreigners to own property under conditions, and the Jordanian Constitution in Article 11 guarantees the right to ownership for Jordanians, which has three pillars:
1. The right of possession (owning the property and registering it in the Land and Survey Department).
2. The right to use and benefit from the property, such as residing in it, renting it out wholly or partially, or using it for agricultural or commercial purposes according to the regulations.
3. The right of disposition such as (selling, buying, leasing, gifting, endowing, mortgaging, bequeathing).
Chapter seven of the law is titled "Ownership and Leasing of Properties by Non-Jordanians and Juridical Persons" and permits owning property in the kingdom after obtaining approval for the purpose of private residence for oneself or one's family within regulatory limits for the purpose of investing in an industrial or service project on a plot of land not exceeding ten dunams, provided Jordanians are treated reciprocally. Article 142 permits non-Jordanians who hold citizenship of any Arab country to own a plot of land outside regulatory zones, for the purpose of investing in it by reclaiming or cultivating it, or by establishing an industrial or housing project on it, for areas reaching or exceeding fifty dunams.
Since the Corporation operates under Social Security Law number (1) for the year 2014 and its amendments, which stipulate in Article (4) the following "The Corporation enjoys a juridical personality with financial and administrative independence, and in this capacity, it owns movable and immovable property and carries out all legal transactions necessary to achieve its purposes"; therefore, it only needs to announce to its members the numbers of the parcels that the Social Security Investment Fund has bought, their sizes, and their uses whether inside or outside regulatory zones. Since the first phase of the project is organized, there must be land uses specified for each segregated parcel, as the purchase price of central commercial land differs from exhibition or residential land.
Now that the purchasing process has been completed, and compensation amounting to 172 million dinars has been paid according to the statements by the chairman of the Social Security Investment Fund, his excellency Mr. Omar Malhas, a former minister of finance, and the executive director of the fund is Dr. Az al-Din Kanakriyeh, a former minister of finance with a good reputation and experience, the sale and purchase must have occurred in the Land and Survey Department which requires the seller to present three documents:
1. A property deed entitling him to transact the property's title.
2. A recent land plan showing the location and number of the parcel and its area.
3. A recent regulatory site plan which grants for lands inside or outside the regulatory areas and specifies the conditions from setbacks and uses (residential, commercial, craft/ industrial, other).
As long as both the buyer and the seller have the right to own property in Jordan, there is no need to question their origins and details, and it's important to obtain the transfer in official circles before a notary public, without the need for threats and intimidation by a minister of information, and to focus on answering the owners' questions—the members, retirees—and to display the new registration deeds, and the land and site regulatory plans for all the purchased parcels, without being a reason to disturb the peace or until Jordanians rally around the Umrah project and strive for its success.
