ER
THE dawn was no longer noisy, there was no crowd, the roar of the merchants was no longer heard, the red tomatoes and green vegetables no longer adorned the asphalt in the trade center area of the capital of Aceh province.
That morning, security forces of the Indonesia National Army (TNI) and Indonesia National Police (Polri), Guards, traffic and road transport officers were seen on alert at various corners of the Banda Aceh Peunayong market, from the Kartini street, the fish market to the SMEP field.
They are assigned to escort the traders who have been moved to other locations so they do not return there. Because this location has been included in the rearrangement planning by the local government.
The Peunayong market traders were all relocated to a new market called Al Mahirah Lamdingin which had been prepared long ago by the Banda Aceh City Government.
Although the relocation process was marked by resistance from a number of traders, the Banda Aceh Government forced the relocation because a new, more representative place had been prepared, and for the purpose of beautifying the city and creating a new economic center.
The government’s assertiveness ended well, the merchants finally accepted being transferred to the new place of Al Mahirah Lamdingin with more adequate capacity and facilities, and was able to accommodate around 1,000 traders.
The relocation of these traders has now made the Peunayong market area cleaner and no longer cluttered, avoiding congestion at certain hours, making traffic more smoothly for motorists.
Culinary tour
The Banda Aceh City Government plans to turn the Peunayong market area into a new economic point in the land of rencong, which is specifically for culinary tourism, the old town and trade in other services.
Banda Aceh Mayor Aminullah Usman said the Peunayong market has been included in a sustainable urban planning program that has been planned for a long time with the aim of growing the community’s economy.
In the future, he said, the area will be used as a culinary center, in addition to its main function as a trading area. The development of the culinary tourism center was carried out as a government effort in order to support tourism destinations, as well as the presence of a new economic point in Banda Aceh.
Technically, Head of Banda Aceh Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Jalaluddin explained, the plan to build culinary tourism sites and other service trades in the former Peunayong market has been proposed this year, and work will start in 2022.
In the Peunayong area, there are three culinary tourism development points, including the location of the former fish, vegetable market and the SMEP field. The total land area owned is 1.17 hectares (Ha).
Jalaluddin explained that the available development land is in the SMEP field of eight thousand meters, the fish market of 2.7 thousand meters, and the Kartini vegetable market of about one thousand meters. In the future, the entire area will be built for culinary tourism sites, trade services to play areas for children.
He added that the concept of the plan to build a culinary tourism center has been finalized and proposed this year in the APBK 2022 Banda Aceh, so that it can then be realized in the current year’s budget line. Meanwhile, the IDR60 billion required for this development budget has been proposed in the Banda Aceh APBK Murni.
However, because it is too big, he hopes to be assisted by provincial finances through the special autonomy fund or with state revenue budget assistance through the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR).
Bargaining value
The construction of a culinary tourism center to cultural heritage in Banda Aceh is a bargaining chip for domestic and foreign tourists visiting the area nicknamed Serambi Makkah.
Head of the Banda Aceh Tourism Office, Iskandar said that the Peunayong area has a history, so it has the value of old town tourism, especially if it gets support for the development of a culinary center, it will attract more attention.
In fact, at this time the architecture of the shops in the area shows an old Chinese ethnic model building. The meaning is still very interesting to see.
Iskandar said, choosing the location for the construction of this culinary center was also very appropriate, because in addition to being in urban areas it is also close to the Krueng Aceh riverbank, so that the compound with the government’s plan is to maximize pier tourism.
Meanwhile, said Iskandar, on the banks of the Krueng Aceh river near Peunayong, several culinary spots are already available, so it needs to be revamped, so that they can really attract tourists.
Iskandar said that the level of tourist visits in Banda Aceh in 2019 reached more than 503,000 people. However, there was a drastic decline during the 2020 pandemic, down to 65%, namely only 175 thousand domestic tourist arrivals.
He believes and is optimistic that after the COVID-19 pandemic ends, tourist visits, both domestic and foreign, will continue to increase, even higher than in previous years when international flights re-opened.
“Until the end of May 2021, Banda Aceh alone has been visited by 81 thousand domestic tourists. So we hope that this will reach more than 500 thousand people, especially since Banda Aceh is also a transit city for tourism in other areas such as Sabang and Aceh Besar,” he said.
Iskandar said, increasing tourist visits will have a major impact on economic growth and regional income, so this is very helpful for the government in its efforts to improve the welfare of the people.
Therefore, he expressed his hope that all elements of society can provide full support for the tourism programs that have been planned by the government.
“The government wants to give the best so that people come here, so that in the future the economy will continue to grow, and the community can be more prosperous, this is the main goal of all of us,” said Iskandar. [antaranews]
