Fire destroys 600 kiosks in Ciputat market

JAKARTA (JP): A fire on Thursday night believed to have been caused by a short circuit razed at least 600 of the 724 kiosks at the packed 1.5 hectare Ciputat market, southwest of Jakarta.

There were no reported fatalities but hundreds of the small- scale traders who own and rent the kiosks for trading merchandise ranging from jewelry to consumer goods, lost an estimated Rp 20 billion (US$9.15 million).

Witnesses said the fire started at a number of points in the center of the market.

"I haven't received any details on the people to be questioned in accordance with the blaze," head of the Crime Investigation Department of the South Jakarta police Capt. Charles H. Ngili told The Jakarta Post hours after the fire was extinguished.

Witnesses said that the fire started at around 11:15 p.m. Thursday and was put out by a dozen fire engines more than 10 hours later.

Many believed that the fire was started deliberately by certain parties in order to get the promising 1.5-hectare triangle land plot, located between Jl. Haji Usman and Jl. Pasar Ciputat near Ciputat Plaza.

However, police, fire brigade and local authority officers met at the scene all said that the fire was caused by a short circuit coming from a number of kiosks located in the center of the market.

"We have no single plan to give this site to any private developer," said head of the Ciputat subdistrict M. Natsir Suryawinata. "We'll immediately build a two-story market and the priority for occupancy will be given to the victims of the fire," he promised.

Mall

Asked about the huge billboard denoting the plan of a private developer to build a luxurious shopping center under the name Ciputat Mall at the site, Natsir said: "It's just a billboard because we have known that the property developer lacks adequate financial support to construct such a building."

When asked, many traders said that they had no knowledge of the rumored plan for the construction of a new exclusive shopping center on the site.

"We have never been offered certain compensation by the authorities, nor by the private sector, to move to another place," said Abdullah, 40, a seller of consumer goods, who lost Rp 40 million in the blaze.

Natsir said that the authorities will close the scene and build a temporary gate surrounding the site by tomorrow in a bid to prevent anyone from constructing anything inside the site.

"In the meantime, all traders will reside at the former Ciputat bus terminal nearby which has a total width of more than 6,000 square meters," he said.

In a rarity for a fire site, none of the handful of security personnel made any effort to secure the area, allowing dozens of scavengers to rush in and take anything which they could change into money. (Abdul Manan/anr/sim/bsr)

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