Fire destroys 600 kiosks in Ciputat market
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)
Photo -- Page 2