Hand truck rental biz faces threat with Tanah Abang makeover

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post

Amid rows of parked cars and tents a porter was seen approaching a 50-year-old man standing beneath a shop-bridge at Tanah Abang textile market in Central Jakarta.

The porter gave the man Rp 2,000 (22 U.S. cents) and received a trolley in return. Then, he began the search for customers.

"This is my business. I rent trolleys to porters. I have been doing this for 30 years," the man, who introduced himself as Ruja, told The Jakarta Post recently.

Ruja started his working life in Tanah Abang as a porter without a trolley. He had to hire one from the trolley owner. He learned one lesson: Trolley owners did good business.

So, with his savings, Ruja bought five trolleys and started to rent them to other porters.

"When I began this business, the rental fee was only Rp 200. Tanah Abang was not as busy as today," he recalled.

As time passed, his business expanded.

Now, with 30 trolleys, Ruja can earn between Rp 100,000 and Rp 150,000 per day during his working hours from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week.

He usually hops on the commuter train at the station nearest his home in Rawa Buntu, Tangerang, at 6 a.m. to reach Tanah Abang.

Ruja's two competitors, who are also his friends, operate with 12 and 15 trolleys each.

From his business, Ruja manages to keep his family clothed and fed and send his four children to school. His eldest son has already graduated from university.

Ruja said he wanted to send his third and fourth children to university, but doubted that he could afford the tuition fees.

"The fees are very expensive now. I hope the government can lower the fees so that I can send my two children to universities," he said.

As the Idul Fitri holiday approaches -- most likely on Nov. 14 -- business at the biggest textile market in Southeast Asia is booming.

"It's a particularly busy time as more and more people shop at Tanah Abang for gifts before returning to their hometowns," he said.

But, after enjoying a thriving business for three decades, things may be about to change for Ruja. The city administration plans to convert Tanah Abang from an overcrowded, dirty and sprawling market area, to a slick, new shopping and business complex in the next five years.

The 12-hectare mega-project will stretch from Tanah Abang textile market to Tanah Abang railway station. Currently, a renovation project to transform Tanah Abang's Block A, which was destroyed by fire on Feb. 19, 2003, into a luxury shopping mall, is ongoing.

The Rp 400 million mall will have 16 floors above ground and three below. The mall will face the railway station on Jl. Jati Baru, which is to become a monorail station.

"I haven't thought about it (the plan). I believe porters will continue to rent my trolleys. I will continue this job as long as I can," he said, while giving another trolley to an incoming porter.