400 traders refuse to move to new market

JAKARTA (JP): About 400 traders of Jembatan Lima in West Jakarta are still resisting the authority's order to vacate the market to pave the way for renovation.

The traders said yesterday they refused to leave because a contract between them and PD Pasar Jaya, the City-owned Market Company, gave them the right to do business there for another seven years.

PD Pasar Jaya announced in January last year it was planning to renovate the 12-year-old market, and told all 583 traders to prepare to move to another market place to be set up by the authority.

The city-owned company announced in July that the traders would have to leave the market before Sept. 1 because it would be demolished then.

Then they were given a deadline of between Feb. 15 and Feb. 20 this year and a warning to collect their merchandise and move to the newly-set up makeshift market a kilometer away.

By yesterday many traders had left the market for unknown destinations after refusing to move to the makeshift one because it did not meet the conditions to be a good market.

The remaining traders, who occupy the first floor, told The Jakarta Post yesterday "we'll wait and see what will happen to us."

"I have a permit to use my kiosk until the year 2004," Nasir, who sells basic commodities, said while other traders mocked the announcements from the authorities being repeatedly played through the loudspeakers.

Another trader, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the makeshift shops had been build in a one-kilometer-long stretch along the roadside.

He said the kiosks were not grouped and this would inconvenience buyers.

Asma, a pots and pans seller, said she did not want to move because she was afraid of possible flooding. The makeshift market is too close to the Cibubur river and occasionally inundated the surrounding areas," she said.

Meanwhile a PD Pasar Jaya staff member told the Post 60 percent of the traders had already collected keys to the makeshift shops.

The official, who refused to be named, did not want to say what the market authority would do to the stubborn traders.

Yesterday the shops at the makeshift market were still not occupied. (13)