Pasar Jaya to help food distribution

JAKARTA (JP): PD Pasar Jaya, the city market managing company, will likely be involved in a food distribution center to be set up by the central government to help facilitate food distribution, an official said.

"We have just discussed the possible involvement of Pasar Jaya in the distribution of various basic food commodities," the firm's president, Albert Napitupulu, said after a meeting with Industry and Trade Minister Rahardi Ramelan on Tuesday.

He said that further discussions for the involvement of Pasar Jaya in the distribution center will be held with the minister next week.

The possible involvement of the firm at the center was apparently made in response to a proposal by Thomas Dharmawan, chairman of the Indonesian Association of Food Manufacturers (GAPMMI) on the grounds that the firm, which manages more than 150 traditional markets in Jakarta, has many outlets.

"If such a food distribution center is managed by a private institution, there would be a tendency for it to be concentrated only in crowded areas," Dharmawan said.

The planned food distribution center is scheduled to be managed by a state-owned trading company, but in the long run it would be transferred to a private institution, Antara reported. (hhr)