Glodok shopping bridge finally evacuated<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The authorities finally evacuated the Glodok
\nMetro Bridge shopping strip yesterday, one week after a deadline
\nimposed by the West Jakarta mayor.<\/p>\n
The evacuation brought to a climax a prolonged dispute
\ninvolving 60 shop owners, PT Binacitra Tataswati and the West
\nJakarta Mayoralty.<\/p>\n
Police and military personnel were deployed yesterday to
\nexecute the instruction of West Jakarta mayor Sutardjianto to
\nclear the city-owned shopping strip.<\/p>\n
Shop owners looked tense even before security personnel
\narrived at about 11:00 a.m. Some had packed their goods and were
\nalready preparing to leave. The operation passed without
\nincident.<\/p>\n
When the police and military arrived they cordoned the
\ncompound and told shop owners and passersby to leave.<\/p>\n
Some retailers have already left the shopping strip and are
\nrenting new shops in nearby Harco Plaza. Many of those still on
\nthe shopping strip were confused about what to do next before
\nthey finally packed their goods.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 24 Sutardjianto gave shop owners one week to vacate
\ntheir shops. According to the mayor, the instruction was given
\nfollowing the shop owners' failure to pay a lease based on a new
\ncontract set out by PT Binacitra, a private firm appointed by the
\ngovernment last September to manage the pedestrian shopping
\nwalkway.<\/p>\n
Shop owners said the new lease was exorbitant. Newspapers have
\nconfusing figures on the lease offered by PT Binacitra. Some
\nreports said that the firm asked Rp 20 million to Rp 22 million
\nper square meter for a period of 20 years. Other reports said Rp
\n2 million per square meter over a period of three years pending
\nconfirmation of a triple level freeway construction connecting
\nKota and Cinere.<\/p>\n
PT Binacitra director Supandi Gozali has never been available
\nfor comment. Staff at PT Binacitra always say that he is out
\nvisiting project sites. The company's lawyer O.C. Kaligis was
\nalso unavailable yesterday.<\/p>\n
The West Jakarta mayor was not available for comment when
\ncontacted by the Post yesterday.<\/p>\n
"The high lease is not the main reason why we are reluctant to
\ntrust PT Binacitra," a shop owner asking for anonymity told The
\nJakarta Post. "It is the vagueness of its identity that made us
\nreluctant to do so."<\/p>\n
However, city legislator Abdullah Abdulgani said last week
\nthat PT Binacitra is a legal company.<\/p>\n
"So far, the executives have only claimed that PT Binacitra is
\na legally established firm," said Gunawan Tjahjadi, one of shop
\nowners' lawyers.<\/p>\n
For many shop owners the evacuation was a nightmare they had
\nforeseen after being in limbo for weeks.<\/p>\n
The shop owners filed two suits last week. One was addressed
\nto the mayor and the other requesting cancellation of the
\nappointment of PT Binacitra by city-owned PD Pasar Jaya.<\/p>\n
Gunawan said he resented the government's action while their
\nsuits were still being processed. (14)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/glodok-shopping-bridge-finally-evacuated-1447893297",
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