Tanah Abang to have new look in five years
Tanah Abang to have new look in five years
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In five years, Tanah Abang will be transformed from an
overcrowded, dirty and sprawling market area, to a slick, new
shopping and business complex. The area, notorious for thugs,
will boast a new center for shopping, business and apartments.
City developer PD Pembangunan Sarana Jaya president Tebyan
A'maari said that the new face of Tanah Abang would be made
possible through his company's Rp 6 trillion (around US$698
million) Sentra Primer Kota (urban primary center) project.
"Finance is not an issue here as there are several investors.
We plan to start construction this year," he told reporters on
Thursday at City Hall after presenting the proposal to Jakarta
Governor Sutiyoso.
Despite a positive response from Sutiyoso, the developer is
still waiting for the administration's green light.
Teyban said that the governor emphasized finding other
investors aside from those who had already submitted proposals.
However, he declined to name any of the investors.
The 12-hectare mega-project will stretch from Tanah Abang
textile market to Tanah Abang railway station. Currently, a
renovation project to transform Tanah Abang's Block A, which was
destroyed by fire on Feb. 19, 2003, into a luxury shopping mall
is ongoing.
The Rp 400 million new mall will have 16 floors above ground
and three below. The mall will face Tanah Abang railway station
on Jl. Jati Baru, which is to become a monorail station.
Tebyan promised that none of around 2,000 families in the six
community units in the area would be forcibly evicted for the
project.
"We will compensate them for their land property with
ownership of shares in the property. Their ownership of the
shares will be dependent on the value of their land and
buildings," he said.
The project has already been criticized by an urban planning
expert of Trisakti University Yayat Supriatna.
"The problem lies in the access to Tanah Abang market as it is
overcrowded. If the administration wants to develop the area, it
must improve the existing infrastructure to boost transaction
among traders," he said.
He also warned that the construction of a plush business and
trade district would hurt the existing business in the area that
mostly involved small and medium size enterprises.
Initially opened in 1735 during Dutch rule, Tanah Abang is one
of the oldest markets in the capital. To date, 7,484 traders are
registered in the market, not including more than 3,000
unregistered vendors operating in the area surrounding the
market.