Open Wang Kelian shopping arcade, residents urge state govt
18 Jun 2023 01:53pm
Residents hope the opening of a shopping arcade will liven up Wang Kelian again as this could provide additional income to the people who are mostly farmers. Photo from Awani
A resident, Zul Zalina Othman, 40, said he hoped the state government could expedite the process to allow shops to operate at the arcade which has already been completed for quite some time.
"Earlier we were told that the arcade would be opening in March but nothing has happened since and we have not received any news after that," the former day market trader told Bernama recently.
Zul Zalina hopes that the opening of the shopping arcade will liven up Wang Kelian again as this could provide additional income to the people who are mostly farmers.
"It is also hoped that the arcade operator would not impose strict conditions to traders and allow them to sell products from the neighbouring country,” he said.
Another resident, Md Razak Md Daud, 64, who shared the same opinion. was also confident that the economy of the local population would improve when the shopping arcade is back in operation as local and foreign tourists would be passing through the border town to get to Southern Thailand.
"These days during weekends we see several vehicles passing through Wang Kelian without stopping as there is nothing to attract tourists here," he said.
Md Razak said tourists at Wang Kelian View Point often asked what are the attractions available in Wang Kelian when the tourist spot is opened, which leaves him disheartened as he too was unsure about this.
Meanwhile, Perlis Forestry Department director Ag Shaffie Ag Ahmadni said the department has been given the responsibility to manage the Wang Kelian Arcade.
"We do want to open the Wang Kelian Arcade as soon as possible, but we are facing constraints in terms of the number of traders who are interested in setting up their business there.
"The department has advertised to get the local traders to operate business stalls here and we received encouraging response at first, but out of 32 business letters issued, only eight traders responded," he said.
Ag Shaffie said he hoped that the vacant lots would be taken up by Perlis natives soon so that the arcade could be opened..
He said it was learned that the traders wanted the same concept being practiced in Padang Besar which is to allow them to sell Thai products..
"However, at Wang Kelian it has been set that traders can only sell local products because we don’t the arcade to be dominated by foreign traders as local traders will lose out in the future.
"Besides, Perlis has several interesting products that have the potential to be developed," he said. -Bernama
