Campbell market traders hope for revival

GEORGE TOWN: Traders at the century-old Lebuh Campbell wet market here are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping the market would experience a business revival once the RM5 million facelift work is completed.
Prawn seller Lim Kok Soon, 74, said the market was a hive of activity but with the area falling under the heritage zone, many of its patrons had moved out of the area.
"Once they moved out, many opted for markets nearer to them," he told theSun, naming markets in Lebuh Cecil, Air Itam and Jelutong as their choices.
A fish seller who identified himself as Ah Loo, said when business declined, many traders opted to relocate elsewhere.
"It is worrying but we need to move on," the 60-year-old Loo who stays in Padang Tembak told theSun.
Lim Eng Huat, 63, was confident the market's history will somehow bring back customers and noted that it was the second oldest market in Penang after the iconic Chowrasta market nearby.
He said the move to refurbish the market would not only give it a new image but would also result in better cleanliness at the premises, which Lim said was lacking earlier.
State Local Government, Traffic and Flood Mitigation committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow who visited the market previously was reported saying that an open tender for the project would be opened next month while results were expected in April or May.
Chow had said work would be carried out in phases and traders will be relocated as work progressed.
An additional structure will also be built and a plan is in the works to introduce a street food hawker area.