Traders still refuse to leave

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)