PJ Old Town market upgrade to cost RM5mil

The upgrade of Pasar Besar Jalan Othman is currently going on in stages.

THE upgrade of Pasar Besar Jalan Othman will cost Petaling Jaya City Council RM5mil, says Petaling Jaya mayor Datuk Mohd Sayuthi Bakar.

The money, he said, would most probably be from the city council’s development fund.

“We are now upgrading (the market) in stages.

“Our only challenge is funding this project.

“Nevertheless, we will go through our budget discussion next month for this project, ” said Mohd Sayuthi during MBPJ’s full board meeting.

He was replying to councillor Derek Fernandez, who asked about the estimated cost for the market’s upgrade.

Fernandez said the cost had to be factored in when determining rental space later.

Councillor Billy Wong suggested that the money be taken from other sources such as the developers’ fund.

Sayuthi said the market’s condition would not have worsened if the upgrade had taken place much earlier.

“In the past, the traders were not cooperative. If the council had gone ahead with the upgrade then, it would not be this bad.

“We cannot use the developers fund for this market upgrade.

“However, we can utilise the council’s development fund.”

He said MBPJ had formed a committee to look into the market issue and all related matters would be discussed there.

He called on traders to be responsible for the space they operate in and not completely depend on the city council.

“They should keep their trading space clean and devoid of illegal extensions.

“Some of these traders sometimes treat the council as their errand boy.

“Where is their responsibility in taking care of the space they rent from the council?, ” he said.

He also noted that the food court’s cleanliness was below MBPJ standards.

“If we find a single outlet at these council food courts dirty, we will shut the entire food court.

“When MBPJ is satisfied with their clean-up efforts, we will open it again, ” Sayuthi added.

Meanwhile, councillor Ermeemarianna Saadon said that at a recent market lot vacancy interview, some of the 203 applicants were of the view that the rental was cheap.

“Some were willing to pay up to RM500.

“This shows that MPBJ is not unreasonable in its recent plan to increase rental, ” she added.