Lower House endorses investment fund bill

AMMAN – The Lower House on Sunday endorsed the Jordan investment fund draft law for 2016, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

At the evening session, headed by House President Atef Tarawneh and attended by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, deputies revoted the Articles 2 and 4 of the bill, changing their previous decision of excluding Israeli investment institutions from participating in companies established by Arab sovereign funds. They also omitted Paragraph G of Article 4, which requires companies to give Jordanians 75 per cent in their staff.

Ensour said that the fund’s board of directors is to be headed by the prime minister, with members including ministers of planning and international cooperation, finance, energy and industry, trade and supply, in addition to three members chosen by the Cabinet.

Authorising the fund to utilise forestlands does not mean jeopardising these lands as there are tens of thousands of dunums in areas categorised as forests but have no trees at all, Ensour added.

He commended the competitive privileges the fund law offers, providing better conditions for investors to implement their projects that will create more jobs and transfer and settle technology in the Kingdom.

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Emad Fakhoury explained that the piece of legislation is the first step in attracting mega investments and enhancing economic competitiveness.

The bill comes to finance the leading infrastructure and development projects that benefit the national economy and give sovereign funds and Arab and foreign investment institutions the chance to invest in the projects listed in the law. 

The draft law stipulates that the fund has the right to possess, invest and develop the following projects: the national railway network, the electricity interconnectivity project with Saudi Arabia, the pipeline to transfer crude oil and fuel derivatives to the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company, and consumption and storage points, developing infrastructure at the Custodian of the Two Holy Shrines City project and a recreational estate project in Matal in Aqaba, in addition to other projects that the Cabinet approves, based on a recommendation from the fund’s board of directors.