Businessman and Afghan community leader Khaliq Fazal (front) with (from left) Thomas Street traders Haji Najifi, Yama Akbar and Ahmad Hussain Zada.
By Shaun Inguanzo
AFGHAN traders in Thomas Street are urging Greater Dandenong Council to breathe more money and life into the street.
Dandenong businessman and chairman of the Afghan Australian Association of Victoria, Khaliq Fazal, said prior to an influx of Afghan migrants to the area five years ago, Thomas Street was dead.
Mr Fazal said the migrants opened both cultural and general stores, which attracted the city’s large Afghan population to Thomas Street and also attracted the interest of curious residents.
“No-one rented or leased for long in Thomas Street,” he said. “But now it is hard to find an empty shop to lease in Thomas Street.”
Mr Fazal said now that traders had injected life into the shopping strip it was time for the council to pitch in and beautify the area.
“We want it to be like Lygon Street in Carlton,” he said. “If you look at Thomas Street you hardly see any beautiful trees, flowers or plants. These are the responsibilities of the council.”
Mr Fazal said the traders did not want to wait solely for the City of Greater Dandenong and VicUrban’s multimillion dollar Revitalisation of Central Dandenong project that was years away.
“We do not want to wait until 2011 or 2012 to see what happens in central Dandenong,” he said.
The City of Greater Dandenong said it had already made a series of improvements to the street.
“In the last few years council has spent large amounts of money in the Thomas Street and Walker Street precincts,” a spokesperson said. “These include new road and footpath paving, roundabout treatments, upgraded street lighting, new street trees, new street furniture and rubbish bins.
“More recently council has announced the alfresco dining initiative to encourage restaurants to increase activation on retail streets and generate greater trading.”
