Pasar Jaya awaits council ruling

Pasar Jaya awaits council ruling

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Although the Central Jakarta District Court has annulled the
asset preservation order on the Tanah Abang textile market, the
city market operator PD Pasar Jaya has decided not to go ahead
with its renovation plan which had been halted by the court's
order.

PD Pasar Jaya director Prabowo Soenirman said on Tuesday he
would wait for the final word from the City Council committee
tasked with investigating possible collusion in the renovation
plan.

"Although the main stumbling block in our plan to renovate the
market, that is, the asset preservation order, has been removed,
we will wait for the recommendation from the council's special
committee," he said.

The court annulled its previous ruling on Monday, arguing that
it did not include the Jakarta administration as the owner of the
market when considering the issue.

The annulment was made after Governor Sutiyoso requested the
revocation of the ruling due to a legal flaw.

"The traders, who have demanded an asset preservation order
with the court, had mistakenly mentioned PD Pasar Jaya and
developer PT Sari Kebon Jeruk as the owner of the city-owned
market. That's why the court annulled the decision after the
Governor expressed his objection to the ruling," said a lawyer
for PD Pasar Jaya, Listyo Wismono.

PT Sari Kebon Jeruk is the business counterpart of PD Pasar
Jaya in the plan to demolish blocks B, C, D and E of the market
and rebuild them.

The administration has insisted that the market had to be
completely torn down, citing a recommendation made by the civil
engineering team of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB)
that the structure of the market's four blocks was in dire need
of reinforcement or total renovation.

Most traders have opposed the plan and asked PD Pasar Jaya to
seek a second opinion from another team of independent experts
from the University of Indonesia.

The traders fear they will not be able to afford the kiosk
rental fees in the new buildings.

At least 2,900 traders will be affected by the project.

The council's special committee said earlier that it aimed to
reach a final decision over the market by the end of February.

Prabowo claimed that as of Monday, at least 1,527 traders had
reserved a space in the future blocks and were in favor of the
renovation plan.

He also claimed that some traders in block E whose rental
permits would expire in 2007 had also sent a letter to Sutiyoso
and the council to express their support for the plan.