Sutiyoso asked to review chiefs of Pasar Jaya

Sutiyoso asked to review chiefs of Pasar Jaya

JAKARTA (JP): City Council Commission B for economic affairs
asked Governor Sutiyoso on Tuesday to review executives of city-
owned market operator PD Pasar Jaya amid reports that councillors
had asked for their "quota of space" at the rebuilt Glodok Plaza
in West Jakarta.

"We have asked the governor to review Pasar Jaya's board of
directors due to poor performance," the commission's deputy
chairman Agung Imam Sumanto said.

Agung, a councillor of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), said the directors' poor performance
could be observed through the huge number of empty spaces in
city-owned markets.

He said there were 3,305 vacant kiosks at traditional markets
and 6,372 vacant stores in shopping centers operated by PD Pasar
Jaya.

Agung said the commission had a meeting on Tuesday and had
decided to send a letter to ask Sutiyoso to clarify accusations
that councillors had asked for trading spaces at the plaza.

"Sutiyoso should clarify the report. There is no such quota
for councillors," he said.

But he did not deny that certain councillors might have asked
for space in the six-story Glodok Plaza, which was destroyed in
the mid-May 1998 riots.

Sources claim that councillors from the United Development
Party (PPP) had asked Pasar Jaya for space in the plaza, which is
scheduled to resume operations soon.

"Only the PPP faction questioned Pasar Jaya's performance
during the city council's annual session last week, which heard
Sutiyoso's accountability speech.

"They accused Pasar Jaya executives of practicing collusion,
corruption and nepotism just because their demand for spaces was
rejected by the market's directors," an official at the city
administration, who requested anonymity, said on Monday.

Another source said PPP councillors were known to have stalls
in city-owned markets, including at Kenari market in Central
Jakarta.

Separately, PD Pasar Jaya president Syahril Tanjung admitted
that some councillors of a certain faction had asked for space at
the plaza.

"They verbally asked for spaces in Glodok Plaza. I asked them
to submit a written proposal, but until now I have yet to receive
any," Syahril told reporters on Tuesday.

But he refused to give the councillors priority in regard to
stores in the plaza.

Glodok Plaza will have 1,827 stores, the majority of which are
reserved for the plaza's former vendors whose kiosks were
destroyed in the 1998 riots.

Syahril said PD Pasar Jaya only offered 63 shops on the first,
second and third floors to new traders through an open bid.

Meanwhile, he said, some 200 stores on the fourth and fifth
floors would be marketed by private firm PT Betawi Lestari Jaya.

He denied speculation that the appointment of PT Betawi
Lestari Jaya had violated the bidding principles as alleged by
the PPP last week.

Syahril said the private firm could sell the stores on the two
top floors for between Rp 8 million (US$800) and Rp 11 million
per square meter although the actual value was only about Rp 6
million.

"The private firm paid a Rp 6 billion down payment for the
stores on the fourth and fifth floors," he said.

He said most of the stores in the basement up to the third
floor had sold for between Rp 13 million and Rp 4.5 million per
square meter. (jun)