Jakarta Fair to include housing expo

JAKARTA (JP): In a bid to make this year's Jakarta Fair more attractive to the public, the organizing committee plans to hold a housing expo.

Forty developers have been invited to attend the housing expo which will occupy a 2,000-square-meter area, the organizer of the housing expo William Yioda said over the weekend.

The Jakarta Fair is scheduled to run from June 14 to July 13.

Accompanied by Azwar Nawawi, the deputy general manager of PT Jakarta International Trade Fair Corporation (JITC) which manages the fair, William said developers who had not yet registered for this year's expo should wait for next year's.

Companies to take part in this year's expo include Rajawali Apartment, Tanjung Duren Condominium, BHS Land and Kalbe Land. They will offer many types of housing, costing between Rp 10 million and hundreds of millions of rupiah.

"We expect Rp 100 billion in transactions at the housing expo, because the fair expects three million visitors. If 1 percent of the fair visitors visit the housing expo that means we'll have 30,000 visitors. And if 1 percent of the expo visitors make transactions, that means 300 buyers. This is our minimum expectation," William said.

He said his company, PT Optima Galaria, had a contract to hold housing expos until 2000. "We will hold another housing expo in December this year. The expo will also involve local small-scale businessmen and cooperatives, and companies from Australia, Singapore, China and England," he said.

Many Jakartans have expressed boredom at the annual Jakarta Fair, saying it has become monotonous and dominated by traders.

The fair's management will also feature 30,000 lanterns to make the fair more attractive to the public. Of the 30,000 lanterns, 22 will be in the shape of dinosaurs, the National Monument (Monas) and the Al Azhar Mosque.

The lanterns will be organized by the Indonesia-China Friendship group. (sur)