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.