City bans street vendors during Ramadhan

City bans street vendors during Ramadhan

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Bad experiences with hawkers in the past means the city
administration plans to ban hawkers from most public places
during the fasting month of Ramadhan, Governor Sutiyoso says.

"This year, we don't want to take the risk of letting them use
public places to sell their merchandise during the fasting month.
We fear that their presence will create more problems after the
fasting is over," Sutiyoso said during the weekend. Ramadhan
begins in early October.

In the past, street vendors were allowed to sell their wares
in public spaces during Ramadhan. However, officials in past
years have found it increasingly difficult to remove them after
the fasting month ends, adding to further congestion in the
already crowded city streets.

Sutiyoso said the jams caused by vendors along Jl. Fachruddin
adjacent to the Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta were
directly related to the policies of previous administrations.

When the 1998 economic crisis struck, then-Central Jakarta
mayor Andi Subur Abdullah decided to allow street vendors to run
businesses on the street in the afternoon and during weekends.
But now the area was in a mess, Sutiyoso said.

"We don't want to repeat such a policy."

The administration now planned to gradually reclaim for the
public parts of roads across the city.

"We will only allow (vendors) to use certain spaces we provide
and we will regulate hours and days when they can run their
businesses. There will be an agreement that after the Islamic
Idul Fitri festivities, they must stop using these places,"
Sutiyoso said. He did not detail where these dedicated spaces
would be.

The city has pursued an aggressive policy recently to purge
street vendors from roadsides, especially in Jl. Fachrudin, Jl.
Senen Raya, Jl. Bekasi Timur and Jl. Matraman.

City market operator PD Pasar Jaya president Prabowo Soenirman
said the company would not allow seasonal street vendors to use
any of its 151 kiosk spaces in the traditional market.

"We won't allow them in this year since we would find it
difficult getting them out," he said.