Hippindo Suggests Ex-Government Building To Become A Mall After The Capital Moves To Kalimantan

Chairman of the Indonesian Shopping Center Retailers and Tenants Association (Hippindo) Budihardjo Iduanjah. (Photo: Doc. VOI)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian Shopping Center Retailers and Tenants Association (Hippindo) Budihardjo Iduanjah proposed that government-owned office buildings be converted into shopping centers or malls if DKI Jakarta no longer holds the status of the capital city. To make this happen, his party has discussed it with the Provincial Government (Pemprov) of DKI Jakarta, regarding the plan to propose the transfer of the function. "We are frankly already having talks if we move later, the government offices here are empty. We can make Jakarta a shopping city, a tourist city, a trading city and an exhibition city," he said, quoted from ANTARA, Thursday, May 2. He said that even though Jakarta is no longer the State Capital, the economic potential of this region is still very large.

His party assessed that by making empty buildings into shopping centers, it is hoped that they can attract tourists by presenting various kinds of products.

"Jakarta has the potential to become a city like the one where tourists come, it's good, there are lots of goods," he said.

In addition, he said, in order to encourage Jakarta's desire to become a shopping city, his party also suggested that unused government buildings after the transfer of IKN could also be used as representative offices from foreign countries.

"The international must be strengthened. So there are many foreigners here. The former offices can be used as their representative offices," he said.

Previously, Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said the retail or retail industry in the country had recovered and exceeded the growth value before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"After the COVID-19 or the pandemic is over, we will see that our retail industry, Alhamdulillah, is getting better, already at the pre-COVID-19 point, even better than 2019," he said in Jakarta, Thursday.

He conveyed that the recovery of the retail sector is proof that people's purchasing power of products sold continues to increase every year.