Build Shopping Centers At IKN, Mall Entrepreneurs Ask For Additional Incentives

Chairman of the Indonesian Shopping Center Management Association Alphonzus Widjaja. (Photo: Doc. VOI)

JAKARTA - Mall entrepreneurs who are members of the Indonesian Shopping Center Management Association (APPBI) ask for additional incentives in the form of light capital or reference periods for the government to build shopping centers in the capital city of Nusantara (IKN), East Kalimantan.

For your information, the grace period is a time lag in paying off the principal credit or the interest period for a certain period.

"As for shopping centers, we propose additional incentives," said the General Chairperson of the APPBI DPP Alphonzus Widjaja when met at the Ministry of Trade, Jakarta, Tuesday, July 30.

Alphonzus said the additional incentives were needed because the population in IKN was not large. Meanwhile, mall entrepreneurs need customers to shop.

"Because the Shopping Center has to fight. While the population is still not large. During this struggle, it can bear a heavy burden. So it takes light capital," he said.

Regarding the construction of the mall, Alphonzus said, development will be carried out in stages.

He explained that entrepreneurs would not build large malls in IKN.

"So I think maybe for the first stage at IKN, maybe the shopping center is not too big first, small size and so on. But the point is that shopping centers need population. While in IKN the population is still not large," he explained.

Even though the nation's capital has moved, Aplhonzus revealed, Jakarta still has a chance to become a trade center in Indonesia.

Because, after no longer holding the capital city, Jakarta will focus on becoming a global city.

"In Jakarta, I think this is actually an opportunity for shopping centers. Why? Jakarta will now shift its focus to a global city. One of them is by encouraging the economy," he said.

"So it doesn't come together with IKN, the population continues to decrease. I don't think so. It's even possible to increase it even with government activities focusing on trade, the economy, the possibility that the population could actually increase. If it increases, the shopping center will automatically be more lively," he continued.