Work starts on Kopassus mall

JAKARTA (JP): The construction of a Rp 63-billion (US$26.5 million) shopping center to serve soldiers and residents started yesterday in Cijantung, East Jakarta.

Maj. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, chief of the Army's special force (Kopassus), officiated at the commencement of construction of the 16,000-meter-square building called Graha Cijantung.

The shopping center will be jointly owned by Kopassus and private developer PT Graha Haji Masagung. It will stand on a 2.5- hectare plot owned by Kopassus.

Kopassus and the private developer each have a 50 percent stake in the five-storied project.

Graha Cijantung will offer a slight discount to soldiers. Military members of several other units are also based near the project.

Prabowo said, "The Army's special force intends to cater to soldiers and low-income people in the surrounding area."

The Cijantung district is home to 516,000 people.

Djohan Pahlawan, director of PT Graha Haji Masagung, said the eastern part of the shopping center will be allocated to street vendors and operators of small shops which previously stood along the Kalibaru river in East Jakarta.

Djohan said the shop owners would be given priority because they had rented shops in the area before construction began.

"They will not pay higher rent than they used to," he said, adding that 60 percent of the shops in the plaza had been sold.

Shop prices range from Rp 6 million to Rp 9 million per square meter.

Priority

Djohan said the plaza will provide playing grounds for children, entertainment centers and movie theaters.

The plaza will also have a public health center, a medical laboratory and a drugstore.

He said the plaza was Kopassus' first.

Two similar shopping centers are being built for the Marine Corps in Jakarta and Surabaya.

The one in Jakarta, worth $7.64 million, was started in the Marine Corps complex in Cilandak, South Jakarta, last month. (07)