Johor bahru: The Johor state government has announced plans to standardize the rental rates for Ramadan bazaar sites managed by the private sector starting next year.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Johor Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor stated that this initiative follows findings that certain locations have been charging traders excessively high rental rates. Currently, the state government has already aligned rental rates across all 16 local authorities in Johor, with rents set at RM500 or below for traders leasing directly from these authorities.

Datuk Mohd Jafni highlighted that while there is no current control over private sector rental rates, the state government is planning to address this issue. He noted that some locations charge rents as high as RM5,000, but traders are often willing to pay due to the potential revenue of up to RM60,000 throughout Ramadan. As a result, there has been no significant dissatisfaction from traders, as their income remains considerably higher than their expenses.

He further explained that the alignment of rental rates will be flexible, taking into account the location and the facilities provided by the organisers. The state government also plans to cap the profits of organisers at 30 percent of the rental rate, acknowledging the challenge of setting a fixed rate under RM500 due to the diversity of locations and amenities offered.

Datuk Mohd Jafni also mentioned that this year, a total of 224 Ramadan bazaar locations with 13,576 rental lots have been approved, marking an increase of 819 lots compared to last year.