Bahrain pass bill to curb ownership of land by foreigners

Manama : The House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill to ban foreigners from owning land and property in residential areas except in industrial and tourism zones.

The bill was passed in the regular weekly session of the House. Majority of the MPs present at the session voted for a report supporting the bill.

The report was issued by the Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee in the Council after reviewing the bill with the related authorities, including the Survey and Land Registration Bureau.

The bill instructs to amend the first Article of Law Decree 2 of 2001 with regards to ownership of constructed real estates and lands by non-Bahrainis. However, it excludes GCC nationals from its provisions.

First to speak during the discussion was Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee Head Majid Al Majid.

“The committee passed the bill for its significance as we are all aware of the lack of lands in Bahrain. The difficulty of the Housing Ministry to allocate lands for housing projects proves this. The bill aims first to further facilitate Bahraini citizens who are seeking residents by limiting the ownership of foreigners of real estates, excluding GCC nationals,” he explained to his fellow MPs.

Al Majid continued, “Considering the investment attraction policies of the Kingdom, the bill allows foreigners to own real estates constructed only in investment and tourism areas. This would assist citizens who wish to own lands or real estates in residential areas without any competition from wealthy foreigners.” Committee Member Mohammed Milad supported the bill and explained that the investment zones mentioned in the bill means industrial areas and not purchasing and selling real estates in residential areas.

He also announced that “the committee is now studying another bill to limit GCC nationals’ investment in residential zones”.

One of the presenters of the bill was MP Jalal Kadhim, who commented, “This bill is important for citizens. We live in an island and we have lack of lands. Locals can’t compete with foreign investors and residential areas shouldn’t be utilised for investment purposes.”

During their session, the MPs also passed several other proposals and bills that included a bill to make education mandatory inside nursery schools and a proposal to form a joint committee between Interior Ministry and the tourism sector to combat immoral practices in the field of tourism in Bahrain.

Additionally, the MPs voted against a proposal that instructs to activate monitoring of bank accounts and foreign remittances.