PETALING JAYA: Vegetable traders at the wholesale market in Selayang have appealed to the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to waive the rent on their stalls while the movement control order (MCO) is on.
The waiver would help them cope with the loss of business caused by the MCO, said trader Nazlee Abdul Aziz, who told FMT he was speaking for all vegetable vendors at the market.
Traders at the market pay a monthly rent of RM1,500. During last year’s MCO, which lasted nearly three months, DBKL waived a month’s rent.
Nazlee said the surge in Covid-19 cases at the market over recent days had caused the closure of many businesses there.
The seafood section, for example, has been shut for five days.
“With the closure of our operations due to Covid-19 and the drastic drop in business because of the MCO, DBKL should not collect rent until the MCO is over,” Nazlee said, adding that workers still needed to be paid.
He urged DBKL to limit entry to the market to only the employees of registered vendors and companies so that the spread of the virus could be controlled.
Another trader at the market, Wong Chin Kau, said his business had dropped by 50% since the MCO began on Jan 13.
“There have been very few customers,” he told FMT. “They are all staying away out of fear.”
He complained that the government had been slow in testing traders and workers for Covid-19, saying this was unlike what it did after declaring last year’s MCO.
“Last year, the test was done immediately and the cases were controlled, but not now,” he said. “We feel the government should have continued carrying out random tests to prevent cases from spreading.”
He called for the immediate sanitisation of the market so that those who were healthy could resume business.
Kuala Lumpur Vegetable Wholesalers’ Association president Wong Keng Fatt told FMT the market had reported 150 cases, with 60 from the vegetable section and the remainder from the fish and fruit sections.
Six hundred traders and workers are now waiting for their swab test results.
FMT is contacting DBKL and the health ministry to find out whether the surge in Covid-19 cases at the market would lead to its complete closure.
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/01/21/selayang-market-traders-seek-rental-waiver-as-mco-eats-into-business/