Jakartans 'buy' property in Mecca

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While Indonesian property developers are seeking support for an amendment to the property law in a bid to give a chance to foreign nationals to own property in the country, some Jakarta Muslims have set their sights on property far from home in the holy land of Mecca.

Only recently the Saudi Arabian government endorsed a property ownership scheme called Sukouk al-Intifaa (space-sharing ownership) designed in compliance with sharia, which allows Muslims worldwide to enjoy the privilege of owning a residence in Mecca for 30 days in one year for 25 years at the most.

The opportunity was taken by chain hotel Le Meridien, backed by the royal family and Amjad holding company as developer, to develop Le Meridien Towers Apartments in the heart of Mecca, only five minutes from the Kaaba inside the Great Mosque via King Abdul Azis tunnel.

The five-star serviced apartments will have 2,400 rooms in eight towers -- each of 20 stories, but only 1,335 suites would be available to the public worldwide.

The ongoing construction is expected to be completed later next year and will be ready for occupancy in early 2007, according to the sales and marketing manager of the towers apartments' sole distributor PT Properti Tanah Suci, Denny Elvando.

Since the new property scheme was launched in Jakarta last September, at least 100 residents have bought the ownership certificate out of the targeted 150.

"In this time of crisis, people tend to turn to God. While they are on haj pilgrimage or umroh (minor haj) pilgrimage trips, the lack of proper accommodation in Mecca has become a problem," Denny told a press conference over the weekend.

According to the company, the buyers in Jakarta had gone to Mecca for either haj pilgrimage or umroh -- usually during Ramadhan -- five times on average and they earn about Rp 300 million per year on average. Their occupations ranged from businesspeople to government officials, said Denny.

The price of the apartments begins at around US$6,000 depending on the type of rooms and the period of stay of the family package.

"Most of the buyers are in their forties. Most of them opted to buy a family package for 10 days, some took the longest term of 30 days to join the haj pilgrimage," Denny said, adding that the company would soon look for more buyers in other big cities across the city, such as Surabaya, South Sulawesi's capital city Makassar and North Sumatra's capital of Medan.

According to national data, at least 500,000 people from the country, which has the world's highest Muslim population, visit Mecca every year including those who visit outside the haj season. The Saudi Arabian government imposes a quota of 205,000 Indonesians for the haj pilgrimage season each year.

Buyers will have the privilege of entering Mecca during the stay period they have chosen, either using the six-day package for umroh or the one month package during the haj season.

They can also buy more than one Sukouk ownership certificate and resell it at their own price or move their right to stay in a particular year to the following year, or "borrow" the right from two years ahead to stay longer or to use more than one apartment unit.

"We have also developed cooperation with the Indonesian haj pilgrimage trip agencies to help buyers obtain appropriate haj or umroh guidance services upon arrival in Mecca," Denny said.