SEREMBAN: Hundreds of stalls will be set up around the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) when Formula One returns to Malaysia in October, so that small traders get a share of the crowds, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The Prime Minister said hotels in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya were already fully booked after the announcement that Malaysia would host a grand prix for the first time since 2017.
"It's international, thousands of people will come. Just now we announced that we agreed to accept F1 in Malaysia, and the hotels in Putrajaya and KL are already full," he said at a ceramah in Desa Cempaka here on Wednesday (July 29) night.
Anwar said he had told Formula One and SIC that while the circuit would draw big-ticket restaurants, room had to be made for the small trader as well.
"I told F1 and SIC — big, expensive restaurants … but this is a Madani nation. I want to arrange hundreds of stalls around that stadium. Hundreds of stalls, so that low-income people can do business and earn a living," he said.
"This is our policy."
The Prime Minister said the same thinking applied to the capital, where he wanted hawkers relocated into properly organised centres rather than left on the fringes of the skyline.
"Look at KL, the Twin Towers, the Celcom tower. I say thank you … all of them big. I say number one," he said.
"(But) I want all the stalls in KL to be improved, turned into proper, organised hawker centres, because so many of our people eat at warung and stalls."
Formula One and the FIA confirmed on Sunday (July 26) that Sepang will host the Bahrain Grand Prix from Oct 2 to 4, slotted between the Azerbaijan and Singapore races. The event retains the Bahrain name as the Gulf state is funding it.
It will be Malaysia's first F1 race since the country dropped off the calendar after the 2017 season.
