W. Jakarta plans wholesale market
W. Jakarta plans wholesale market
JAKARTA (JP): West Jakarta mayoralty plans to build a 15-
hectare wholesale market in the Rawa Buaya subdistrict of
Cengkareng to supply commodities coming from West Java and
Sumatra.
Mayor Sutardjianto said yesterday that the proposed market
would be more cost efficient for trucks carrying goods because it
would shorten their journey.
"All this time, trucks loaded with commodities from the
western part of West Java, Lampung and other areas in Sumatra
have had to go to East Jakarta (to the Kramat Jati wholesale
market)."
The proposed market would also help keep the city's streets
clean of dust and wet soil normally dropped by passing trucks,
Sutardjianto said.
"That's why we need support to realize our plan," he said in a
meeting with members of City Council's Commission B for economic
affairs and Commission D for development affairs.
He said the mayoralty was yet to determine the construction
costs for the planned market, saying that the matter was still
being discussed with Jakarta Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
which offered its assistance to develop West Jakarta.
The head of Commission B, Djafar Badjeber, said the commission
supported the mayoralty's plan because the city needed more
wholesale markets.
"However, I hope that the mayoralty studies its plan carefully
so that in the future the market won't be pulled down for other
purposes," he said.
A member of the commission, Agus S. Selman, reminded the
mayoralty not to spend as much on the Rawa Buaya wholesale market
as was spent on the Kramat Jati market, which cost Rp 126 billion
(US$19.4 million) to build.
"The most important thing is to arrange the market in an
orderly fashion so that it can support activities properly," Agus
said.
"Some modest but functional stalls and other supporting
facilities such as warehouses and trucks would be enough," he
said, adding that it was better to develop a profitable market
than an expensive one.
"Management is more important than the buildings. It's useless
to have a modern market if we don't know how to run it."
During the meeting yesterday, the councilors also asked the
mayoralty about the existence of illegal wholesale markets, such
as those in Jembatan Lima.
"There are ordinary markets operating as wholesale markets
there. This kind of action must be stopped," councilor Nasrul
Arman of Commission B said.
In response, Sutardjianto said his office had tried to bring
order to the illegal markets, including those in Pesing and
Cengkareng, by relocating traders to legal markets supervised by
the city.
The mayoralty also launched a crackdown against sidewalks
vendors, the mayor said. They would also be relocated inside the
markets in a bid to prevent traffic congestion, he said.
"We are transferring the traders to 1,400 empty kiosks
available throughout West Jakarta. But I tell you, it is really a
difficult job to do because most of them are not Jakartans." he
said.
"So it's difficult to legally enlist them in a market because
they have to deal with residential status first before being
registered as vendors here." (edt/ind)