Plan to rebuild market shelved Ipoh mayor: RM6mil allocation also withdrawn - The Star

By SYLVIA LOOI (sylvia@thestar.com.my)

THE project to rebuild the Gunung Rapat wet market in Ipoh has been put off indefinitely.

Confirming this yesterday, Datuk Bandar Datuk Roshidi Hashim said the RM6mil allocation from the Federal Government for the project had also been withdrawn.

“It saddens me as it is not easy to get allocation from the Federal Government,” he said after chairing the council’s full board meeting.

Roshidi said refurbishment as suggested by traders would not solve the market’s problem.

“If we refurbish the place, only licensed traders will be able to trade there. What about the illegal traders outside the market?” he asked.

He said the council’s intention of building a new market was to give everyone the opportunity to trade.

“I was merely thinking of the people’s welfare when I suggested to rebuild the market. I did so with good intentions and in good faith as a government servant,” Roshidi said.

Work to rebuild the market was supposed to have started in May but was postponed due to objections from traders.

On a another matter, Roshidi said private security personnel would be employed to patrol the Ipoh central market following an arson attempt at the market’s hawker centre recently.

He also told the traders there not to rely solely on the council for the market’s security.

In the Aug 12 incident, business at the market’s hawker centre was temporarily disrupted following a fire which destroyed a dough fritters stall and slightly damaged a rice stall.

Traders had claimed that security at the centre was lax and that there were drug addicts roaming there every night.