Traders still refuse to leave

JAKARTA (JP): Jembatan Lima traders refusing to leave their kiosks in the West Jakarta market Thursday have had their deadline to move extended again by the authority.

The market authority has repeatedly asked the traders to move so they can renovate the market. Their first deadline was Feb. 15, with five days to move, the second was Feb. 24 and yesterday it was extended until Feb. 28, said the PD Pasar Jaya management. Renovations were due to start yesterday.

The traders, who do not yet know of the new deadline, said they would continue to resist the order as long as PD Pasar Jaya, the City-owned Market Company, did not carry out its threat to cut off the electricity.

The traders refuse to move to a makeshift market, which has been set up by the authority, because a contract made between them and PD Pasar Jaya in 1984, gave them the right to do business there for another seven years.

They said they remained stubborn because the makeshift shops were built in a one-kilometer-long stretch along the roadside and the design would deter customers.

Their third reason was the poor security at the temporary market.

"I don't want to put my goods there because security is not guaranteed. We haven't put any stuff there yet and the keys to the kiosks have been stolen," Sidup, a vegetable seller, said.

Traders also said they were afraid of flooding, because the makeshift market was too close to the Cibubur River.

"The water there can get as deep as one meter, it was only half meter at this market," Raya, a vegetable seller, said of last year's flood.

PD Pasar Jaya has closed its office in the market and moved to a new office at the makeshift market complex.

Since Feb. 19 the traders have not been asked to pay garbage and security bills. (13)