Vendors appeal to SEDC not to close all parking areas

MIRI: Vendors near the old Tamu Kedayan are appealing to Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) not to close all the parking spaces in the area as doing so could cost them their customers.

A shop owner, who only wanted to be known as Ting, told The Borneo Post of the vendors’ plight when met at the ‘tamu’ (wet market) yesterday.

She said although she was not running a stall inside the old tamu, she was also adversely affected by the situation.

“Previously, after the old shops right next to the (old) Tamu Kedayan were demolished, SEDC closed a large part of that area, including the parking spaces on the sides.

“This closure resulted in the loss of about 30 per cent of parking lots from before the demolition took place. This cost us dearly too because many of our regular customers stopped coming here due to severe lack of parking spaces.

“Now that the old Tamu Kedayan will be demolished soon, we worry that the same (closure) would affect dozens of other parking spaces here,” she said.

Ting, who has been trading at the Old China Street for three decades, also lamented about the abandoned parcel of land that is now covered in high grasses and thick overgrowth since the demolition.

“We noticed that the so-called construction had stopped early this year, and since then, all the machinery and equipment have been left unattended — many have become rusty. We are concerned about this because if SEDC does not have any development plan, we’d like to appeal for them to reopen (the abandoned land) and make it a public parking space.

“If SEDC has a better plan for this place, we hope that they could complete it within months so that we could have our customers back. We are suffering here because losing customers means we are unable to make ends meet, like paying bills, and in my case, the expensive monthly shoplot rental of RM8,000.”

For the record, many traders from the old Tamu Kedayan have moved to the new market in front of Tamu Muhibbah — near the MCC Field here and about a five-minute drive from the old site. However, some still stay behind despite the June 3 deadline to empty the old tamu.

The majority of those still operating at the old Tamu Kedayan said they needed more time to move all their stuff out of the old trading place.

For a Chinese trader, though, his reason for the delayed move was entirely different from his counterpart.

“As a Chinese, I’d like to choose an auspicious date (to relocate) — this has a lot to do with ‘Feng Shui’ and luck,” explained the trader, who wished to remain anonymous.

Meanwhile at the new tamu, many traders were happy with the new environment, saying it was more spacious and relatively safer than the old site.

A ‘kuih’ (local cakes) seller Jamaiah Othman was thrilled that the local authority had even prepared a locker for each of the vendor to keep their items.

“This way, we would not need to bring back our goods — some of which are very heavy — every day,” she said.

However, Jamaiah also had several requests — one of which was for the relevant authority to install faucets for the washing areas at the tamu so that the traders could clean their produce and equipment there.

“I heard that the faucets had been stolen a while back, but unfortunately, they have yet to be replaced. We do hope that the MCC (Miri City Council) could address this situation.”