January 25, 2007

Jakarta to relocate poultry facilities

Plans are underway in Jakarta to relocate bird markets and poultry storage and slaughtering facilities, to prevent further bird flu outbreaks during the rainy season.

Deden Supriadi, assistant to the city secretary for economics, said that the selected areas for slaughterhouses are Cakung and Rawa Kepiting in East Jakarta. Storage facilities and bird markets would be relocated to Sukapura in North Jakarta and Cibubur in East Jakarta.

The relocation plan was discussed with the Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Agency and market operators PD Pasar Jaya and PD Darma Jaya.

The agency will handle the relocation of storage facilities, Pasar Jaya will be responsible for the relocation of slaughterhouses and Darma Jaya would prepare the infrastructure for the new slaughterhouses, said Deden Supriadi.

Of the more than 700 poultry slaughtering facilities in the city, two-thirds are located in Central and East Jakarta.

 The city recently banned keeping of poultry in residential homes. Residents were given a deadline to handover their backyard poultry to be slaughtered. Poultry found in homes after the deadline would be confiscated and no compensation would be offered.