Brickfields traders count the cost of Little India

Traders complained that traffic woes from last year remain unresolved. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 — Shopkeepers in Brickfields complained today of rising rent but falling sales following the government’s RM35 million “Little India” redevelopment of the area.

Landlords have raised rent by as much as 40 per cent — to RM20,000 per month for some shoplots — since Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak launched the project in October, businessmen here said today.

During a meeting with Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, traders also complained that the traffic situation has worsened and further affected sales.

PKR vice president Nurul Izzah pointed that there is a lack of communication between the government and community.

“When the new blueprint exists, it should be given the public and the MPs so that residents can make the necessary changes.

“I was informed that residents have made proposals to the blueprint but it is hard for anybody to gain access to decisions and amendments made. These changes need to be communicated to the public from time to time,” she told reporters.

Several roads were changed to one-way streets.

Brickfields Business Council (BBC) secretary-general A. Karupiah also claimed that crime rate in the area has risen after the police station previously based here was moved from the mainly-Indian area to Seri Petaling.

He also said the promise by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to allocate temporary parking spaces had yet to be fulfilled.

Last year, Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin had pledged to ease the clampdown on illegal parking in Brickfields in a bid to appease angry businessmen suffering a drastic drop in business in the suburb.

Many Brickfields traders had prior to that threatened to withdraw their support for the ruling coalition due to a decline in sales of up to 80 per cent caused by the new one-way traffic system in the area.

As part of the area’s renewal, Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4, Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad and parts of Jalan Tun Sambanthan as well as Jalan Thambipillay were converted to one-way streets. Another road, Jalan Rozario, has had its road direction reversed but retains two-way flow.

The temporary one-way traffic system will be in place until October 29 to facilitate work on the RM110 million Package 3 of the traffic upgrading system for Brickfields, Bangsar and Kuala Lumpur.

The Little India project includes fruit and information kiosks at Jalan Thamby Abdullah, a three-storey Indian bazaar at the end of Jalan Tun Sambanthan, a multi-storey car park near the Kuala Lumpur City Hall sports complex, a 35-foot fountain at the junction of Jalan Travers and Jalan Tun Sambanthan, and a brick-paved Jalan Tun Sambanthan lined with white street lamps and pale yellow arches with purple patterns that match the newly painted purple buildings along the street.

Analysts have criticised the RM35 million Little India project to transform Brickfields into the country’s Indian cultural enclave as a government ploy to gain Indian support.

With the majority of urban Chinese voters seen to be implacably set against the Barisan Nasional (BN), the transformation of Brickfields, which was jointly launched by Indian Prime Minister Manhoman Singh, was among Najib’s measures to court the Indian electorate. - Malaysian Insider