'Windfall' for new Labuan market stall vendors
Published on: Friday, December 19, 2014
LABUAN: The new Central Market here, which began operations in November, has drawn as much brickbats as bouquets but despite all that the true "winners" are the 500 over vendors who had shifted to the new RM33.5 million facility.First, the vendors or stall holders were given two months free rental to do business and now they are further given a 50 per cent discount on rentals for the next six months from January to June to help them fully settle into their businesses at the new premises.Labuan Corporation (LC) Chairman Datuk Rozman Isli said:
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"We want to give all stall holders a chance to profit from their undertakings and offer sales of a diverse range of products at reasonable prices. "LC has provided the facility for this purpose and now the ball is in the court of the stall holders to make the new market the island's new interesting landmark and sort of a must-visit place for outsiders and others."The offer of two months free rental and 50 per cent discount on rentals for six months would mean a substantial cost saving for those operating bazaar stalls and food stalls on the upper floors.The rental for these stalls has been tentatively fixed at RM400 per month. This means that a stall owner stands to enjoy a "windfall" of RM2,000 for the grace period.
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Rozman, who is also Labuan Member of Parliament, said the offer was like "Christmas coming early for them and we hope the vendors would appreciate the LC's gesture and reciprocate with a strong will to do business and with imagination to lure shoppers to the market.Rozman further said those who had been given a space at the new market should consider themselves lucky because there were scores of others who failed to get it.
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"We feel sorry for them, especially those bona-fide traders, and we have to prepare plans to accommodate them as well," he said.He said many wanted a stall at the market because the rate was cheap compared to the present market rate. The rental rate for a side-stall in a coffee shop is about RM1,200 to RM1,500, RM400 for market stalls, while for those at the open market selling vegetables, fruits, fish, etc, it is only RM30. Adding to these, the upper two floors are air-conditioned.Rozman said the market was built at a high cost and the maintenance costs were high "because LC built the market not for the sake of spinning money but to provide comfort and convenience to market-goers and others."On complaints that the vendors should have been relocated to the new market until it was fully completed, Rozman said the old market was not in good shape.He said the old market was in an almost run-down state, with leaking roof and there had been several cases of fire outbreak at the bazaar market, resulting in traders suffering substantial losses and the Federal Ministry having to help out and re-build the stalls.As for the new market, Roaman accepted criticisms about the car parking ground not levelled properly and soggy after rain, the steep walk to the upper floors and the fishmongers' complaint about their table size.Rozman said these were design-related issues and would be addressed in due time.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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