Huge trade center would be harmful, critics say

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon

A private consortium plans to build a huge business center worth Rp 500 billion in the West Java city of Cirebon, but the scheme has been criticized by local legislators, religious leaders and traditional traders.

The Cirebon Trade Center (CTC), planned for a 12,000-square meter block in the city's crowded Gunung Sari area, could trigger new social and environmental problems, critics said.

The planned project will only harm the interests of local people at large, particularly low-income earners, and will instead benefit the rich, they said.

Half the land belongs to local state-owned firm PD Pasar Kota Cirebon. It houses more than 150 traditional traders who have long rented kiosks there.

Traders said they feared being evicted from the traffic- congested area if the plan is realized.

Sukarta, a 42-year old trader in Gunung Sari, said he and his compatriots would fight against a possible removal from the area.

The rest of the land is owned by a local Muslim community council, whose leaders also rejected the planned trade center.

"Looking at the complexity of the problem stemming from the planned CTC development, we declare our objection to the project," speaker of the Cirebon legislative council Suryana said on Wednesday.

He said investors and the local administration had never discussed the business plan with the council.

Suryana feared the project would damage the surrounding environment if the management dumped waste in a nearby river. An addition to this, he added that severe traffic jams would worsen if the trade center is established there.

Suryana conceded such a huge project could stimulate economic activity in the city, but underlined that the development must comply with existing regulations and take into account any possible social impact.

"If the location of the project remains in the Gunung Sari area, the council will never support it," he said.

Another local legislator, Iman Enang Gana, said the Gunung Sari traditional market, which presently stands on the land, must not be bulldozed or moved.

He said several traditional markets, including Pasar Pagi and Pasar Jagasatru, had become "economically dead" after having been converted to modern shopping centers, where many kiosk spaces were not utilized.

H. Imam Ali, a spokesman for the project consortium led by local businessman H. Yukeng, said a preliminary study had found Gunung Sari was the most "strategic and suitable" area to build the city's trade center.

"We will invest Rp 500 billion for the project. We want to make use of the potentials in Cirebon as a service and port city. We have, of course, thought maturely about possible social impacts from the development," Imam said.

Cirebon Mayor Lesmana Suryaatmadja said his administration supported the planned project despite strong criticism from the legislative council.

"If the city's disorganization of Gunung Sari is held as a reason, it will be baseless because the area is still subject to redesigning, so it will become a trading zone that benefits all sides," he said.