Tanah Abang woes continue

Tanah Abang woes continue

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Governor Sutiyoso insists that his administration will go ahead
with the plan to demolish the Tanah Abang textile market,
although the City Council has established a special team to look
deeper into the protracted problems amid opposition from the
traders.

"I have no problem with the special team as long as it is not
established to obstruct the administration's plan to reconstruct
the market building," he said.

Should the special team propose that the demolition plan be
suspended, Sutiyoso asserted, the team has to make a written
statement that it would bear responsibility for any incidents
that occur on the premises, including collapse.

City Council Commission B on the economy and D on development
affairs decided on Wednesday to set up a team to assess the
city's plan to bulldoze the textile market, the biggest in
Southeast Asia, amid persistent objection from traders to the
plan.

Council speaker Ade Surapriatna said that the team would be
tasked to give a second opinion on the feasibility of the market
building.

Council deputy speaker Maringan Pangaribuan added that many
experts have offered their free services to help assess the
project.

The administration, through its city-owned market operator PD
Pasar Jaya, revealed earlier that the market needs total
renovation.

Citing a previous analysis made by an expert team of the
Bandung Institute of Technology, the administration said the
market could collapses due to its weak structure.

The traders, however, had suspicions that the demolition and
renovation plan was only a ploy to evict the traders.

The administration plans to develop the market into a shopping
mall.