Malay Mail
DENNIS CHUA
KAJANG, SELANGOR, June 27
Doing business next door to a sewage treatment plant stinks, and wet market hawkers of Bandar Sungai Long only know this better.
There are 200 hawkers in the up-and-coming township, and some of them are furious with the Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) for relocating them next to the sewage plant on May 16.
Previously they conducted their businesses at the commercial centre of the township, along Jalan SL 1/4. The sewage plant is at Persiaran Sungai Long 1.
One of the hawkers, Lee Kek Keong, 53, said it was an unhygienic place for business, adding that business had dropped by 75 per cent.
Another hawker, Yap Keam Fui, 34, said: “Our association endorsed the decision to relocate the market, but ordinary members and non-members were not consulted.”
Hawker Kok Soon Kiat, 26, said the township developer had originally allocated the existing Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) branch campus’ car park in the commercial centre as the market site.
“A proper wet market was to come up there. All this while, we have been operating along Jalan SL 1/4, near the market site.
“But in March, the council told us that the market site would become a car park for the university.”
Another hawker, Leong Kok Kiong, 29, said: “Many of our customers have refused to buy our goods at the new market site, and now do their shopping Bandar Mahkota Cheras about 5km away.
Most of the hawkers have been operating for more than five years.
The hawkers wrote a letter to the MPKj on June 1, urging the local council to reconsider its decision on relocating the market.
“We sent a memorandum with 2,300 signatures from residents and hawkers to the council on June 7. Copies were also forwarded to the Housing and Local Government Ministry and the Selangor Menteri Besar’s office.”
Yap said they had also met with Kajang State Assemblyman Low Lee Leng, who had promised to raise the matter with the council.
MPKj public relations officer Shariman Mohd Nor said that the present market site next to the sewage plant was chosen after a proper study and due consultation with the association and its members.
He said that the market site was temporary, and a proper wet market located away from the plant, would soon be constructed.
The association’s adviser, Chee Chee Meng, Chairman of MCA Bandar Sg Long branch, said the council decided on the market’s present site after a proper study, and most association members agreed to it.
