Tanah Abang traders eye Mozambique
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Traders at the country's largest textile market, Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta, have hammered out a textiles export deal worth US$20 million per year with the traders of Maputo in the Republic of Mozambique during their visit to the city recently.
"This (deal) could be a breakthrough to penetrate the textiles market in Mozambique and other southern African countries as well," Tanah Abang trader coordinator Sofyan Mashud said Tuesday.
Sofyan said Mozambique, located on the western coast of the African continent, could serve as a new gateway to 14 southern African countries, aside from current hubs Nigeria and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
"Hopefully, this cooperation will help recoup the declining trend we are experiencing with business from Somalia, Mali, north Africa, central Africa and India due to the entrance of textile products from China into those markets," he said.
He added that traders from Maputo would follow up on the deal by paying a visit to Jakarta in January.
He did not detail how the transactions between Tanah Abang traders and their Maputo counterparts would take place, but Sofyan said that Tanah Abang traders would establish a joint center in the market's Block A to facilitate the trading process.
At least 36 Tanah Abang traders joined Jakarta governor Sutiyoso during an official visit to Mozambique last week to sign a cooperation agreement between Jakarta and Maputo.
Sutiyoso also visited Kwazuku Natal in South Africa and signed a provincial city agreement.
Currently, Jakarta has a number of sister cities and provinces, including Beijing, Tokyo, Rotterdam, Los Angeles, Seoul, Berlin, New South Wales and Paris.
During the eight-day visit, the Maputo city administration requested assistance from the Jakarta administration for training of public order officers.
The visit seemed to end a prolonged dispute between Sutiyoso and Tanah Abang traders over the administration's plan to renovate Blocks B, C, D, E of the market. The traders have opposed the plan for fear that they would not be able to afford the higher rents in the new market building.
"We oppose the plan because the administration has never invited us to sit at the negotiation table. We support the renovation plan as long as the administration listens to our demands for lower rents and strategic locations in the new building," said Sofyan, who owns two kiosks in the market.
Meanwhile, PD Pasar Jaya president director Prabowo Soenirman urged the traders to retract their lawsuit should they want to negotiate with the administration over the renovation plan.
"We are still focusing on the legal proceedings in the court. I do not want to speculate on any possibilities of when we will start demolishing the market," Prabowo told The Jakarta Post.
PD Pasar Jaya, which operates 151 traditional markets across the capital, also owns the Tanah Abang Market.