Warehouses owners in Kota reluctant to move

JAKARTA (JP): Most of the owners of warehouses in downtown Kota, West Jakarta, are still reluctant to relocate their warehouses despite repeated warnings from the authorities.

A warehouse worker told The Jakarta Post over the weekend that dozens of workers still work as usual, although they have known all along that the authorities have asked the owners to close down their warehouses.

West Jakarta Mayor Sutardjianto has repeatedly asked the owners of the warehouses to move their warehouses to other locations since the city administration is planning to turn the area into a tourist destination.

In his letter issued on Aug. 3, the mayor gave the warehouses' owners three days to move their commodities stored in their warehouses.

There are more than 50 warehouses in Kota which should have been relocated as soon as possible. The warehouses are located on Jl. Kunir, Jl. Kali Besar Barat, Jl. Kali Besar Timur, Jl. Roa Malaka, Jl. Pangeran Jayakarta and Jl. Mangga Dua.

Mayoralty officials have threatened to close down the warehouses if the owners continue to ignore the warnings, Sutardjianto said.

"All activities in the Kota warehouses should be stopped," the mayor said, adding that the owners can instead use their buildings for tourism or entertainment centers.

The city administration is striving to make the downtown Kota area a major tourist site by changing the function of the old warehouses to entertainment centers, including discotheques and restaurants.

The decision is part of the city administration's plan to revive the glory of the downtown area, the oldest part of the city. This is also designed to support and preserve tourism in the area, including a number of museums such as the maritime, wayang (leather puppet) and Jakarta History museums.

Sutardjianto said that reconstructing downtown Kota to look like it did in the past will attract foreign tourists.

However, the reconstruction program of the area has gone slower than expected, especially in relocating the warehouses.

He explained that the apparent failure of the program is mainly caused by irresponsible owners who are reluctant to relocate their warehouses because they have not understood the significance of the program.

The program is aimed at anticipating the development of trade, especially international trade, keeping in mind that Kota was not designed as a location for warehouses.

The municipality has actually provided other locations for warehouses, including Kapuk and Pluit in West Jakarta, Ciracas in East Jakarta, and Sunter in North Jakarta.(29)