400 traders refuse to move to new market

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)