550 Lorong Tar Night Market Traders In The Dark Over Future

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The night market traders at Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman want to meet Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad to discuss their future. (Bernama pic)KUALA LUMPUR: The future looks uncertain for 550 night market traders at Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman (TAR) who have been forced to move to a new site – for a third time – with the closure of Jalan TAR on April 1
The traders, who operate in shop lots along a 1km stretch, are afraid the shift will affect their source of income
Although they have not been officially informed by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) about the relocation, they plan to hand a memorandum to Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad on Monday seeking a discussion with him
According to Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman Traders and Hawkers Association chairman Azkhalim Suradi, some of the traders have been operating in the area for the past 34 years
Azkhalim said they had been asked to move twice previously
“When we were first told to relocate from Jalan TAR to Lorong TAR, our livelihoods were severely affected over 10 years and 50% of the traders had to close shop
“It took us about 20 years to rebuild our business from the stinking back lanes which later became a tourist attraction. This was because we had helped to maintain cleanliness at the site,” he told reporters yesterday
Roslan Ab Ghani, the association’s deputy chairman, said the second time they had to move was when Lorong TAR was upgraded for the River of Life (RoL) project
“Most of the traders complained that their businesses were affected because of the frequent power breakdown at the time
“Our customers were also confused because they were not familiar with the position of the new shop lots in front of Masjid India,” he said
Roslan said the move this time would only worsen the problems of the 550 traders who operated in shop lots measuring 10m wide
He said the association had collected signatures for the memorandum which would be handed over to Khalid on Monday
Last Tuesday, Khalid announced that DBKL would carry out a trial closure of a stretch of Jalan TAR between Jalan Esfahan and Jalan Melayu
The road will be closed to all private vehicles from 8am to midnight during weekends and public holidays and only public transport and enforcement vehicles will be allowed in
Following that, he said, there would be no more traders and obstacles along Lorong TAR and Lorong Gombak and the night market would be relocated to another site. - FMT

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