Jakartans 'buy' property in Mecca
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.