Better planning for Ramadan Bazaars needed — rep
TAWAU: The Tawau Municipal Council and relevant government agencies have been urged to monitor cleanliness of the Ramadan Bazaar stalls and regulate traffic flow.
Sri Tanjong assemblyman Chan Foong Hin said he had received complaints from the public regarding the bazaar.
Chan was accompanied by Pakatan Harapan Tawau and Kalabakan leaders for a walkabout to greet the stall operators while distributing dates to the public. Together with him were Datuk Kong Hong Ming (PKR Tawau chief), Arbaani Akum (Amanah Kalabakan chief), Asis Bakri (PKR Kalabakan Youth chief) and Vincent Fung (DAPSY Sabah chief).
He said this year, more Ramadan Bazaar stalls were allowed to operate and he was worried that there could be lack of local authority enforcement personnel to carry out checks and monitor the stalls to ensure that all the regulations were complied with.
Apart from cleanliness and hygienic issue, the use of car parking lots for stalls has become a hot issue among the shop owners and business operators where their business premises are too near to the Ramadan Bazaar stalls.
Lack of car parking lots has caused heavy traffic congestion, especially in Sabindo, and eventually it would not benefit anybody, including the existing shop businesses or the bazaar stall operators.
Chan said some restaurants even practised ‘road block or road closure’ tactics to occupy more area for their tables and chairs, before the breaking of fast for the day.
The most unthinkable case was the main entrance to Fajar, the busiest commercial and banking center for Tawau town was blocked since afternoon, just to give way to a breaking of fast ceremony last night at Sri Titingan Restaurant. The road closure during the busy hours of working day had great impact to the traffic condition. A computer shop near to the restaurant has to accept the fact that business was affected.
“As an elected representative in Tawau, I wish to urge our local government to plan well ahead for next year’s Ramadan Bazaars. It’s not necessarily good to all stakeholders, even though more stalls are allowed to operate. More stalls means less business for everyone, as the Tawau consumer market won’t be booming overnight. You can observe that the business transaction in Fujimart there seem to be less compared with previous years. Appropriate numbers of stalls allowed are important to ensure the success of the Ramadan Bazaar business,” he said.