AMMAN — Farmers and others owning land near Jordan's northwestern border with Israel are waiting for the go-ahead for land expropriations to begin in clearing the way for the laying of a natural gas pipeline. The pending expropriations stem from an agreement signed in September 2016 between the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) and Noble Energy, a US company that won the concession to exploit Israel’s Leviathan gas field in the eastern Mediterranean. Under the agreement, Israel will supply Jordan with 45 billion cubic meters of gas from the field over a period of 15 years at a cost of $10 billion.
As required by Expropriation Law no. 12 (1987), the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources published an announcement in daily newspapers on Jan. 24 notifying the public of its intention to request that the Council of Ministers grant the authority to expropriate land for the pipeline. The announcement included the names of the hundreds of landowners whose property would be expropriated “to install a natural gas pipeline from the supply station on the Jordanian border near the Al-Sheikh Hussein crossing to the connecting point with the Arab natural gas pipeline in the Khanasri region in Mafraq governorate.” The government will also rent an additional 10 meters on either side of the pipeline during the two-year installation period for works and facilities. After work is completed, the two-year rents will end.
The Council of Ministers approved the land expropriations on Feb. 19 based on the government's right to do so in the public interest in return for financial compensation to those whose property is seized. The expropriation process begins when the Council of Ministers decision is published in the Official Gazette, but so far the approval has not appeared.
The planned underground pipeline will run around 55 kilometers, and the government has allocated 11 billion dinars ($2.1 million) in the 2018 general budget for its installation. The lands to be expropriated amount to 344 dunams, and those to be rented extend over 611 dunams, in 18 towns in the Irbid and Mafraq governorates. According to the 2016 gas agreement, the pipeline will begin transferring around 225 million cubic meters of gas daily from Israel by 2019.
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