City councillors rebuke market authority

City councillors rebuke market authority

JAKARTA (JP): City councilors rebuked the market authority, PD
Pasar Jaya, yesterday for not taking action against city market
roadside vendors having to pay illegal levies.

The councilors who visited the Cipulir and Kebayoran Lama
markets in South Jakarta were told by the vendors that they each
had to pay Rp 1,750 (US$0.7) a day in illegal levies.

At least 200 roadside vendors have been occupying spaces at
the markets since Ramadhan began. They will stay there until
after Idul Fitri.

The chairman of Commission B for Economic Affairs, Sahala
Sinaga said "the imposition of illegal levies by irresponsible
people is against the administration's policy to help vendors
with business spaces during the fasting month. The market
authority PD Pasar Jaya should not be blind to these outlawed
practices".

PD Pasar Jaya said a vendor was charged a rental fee for the
space and Rp 5,000 in sanitation and security fees.

The rental fee depended on a business' size and its location,
he said.

The councilors were at the markets to monitor the prices of
goods and the distribution of spaces to vendors during Ramadhan.

Sahala acknowledged it was hard to stop illegal levies being
imposed on vendors. "This happens every year to roadside vendors
who get business spaces at markets. PD Pasar Jaya should have
anticipated the problem and taken stern action against those
involved in the practice," he said.

"The vendors must compensate for the money they pay in illegal
levies with higher prices for the goods they sell. In the end the
consumers are victimized," he said.

Mrs. Umar, who sells women's clothes at the Cipulir market,
said she paid Rp 200,000 for a four-square-meter space plus the
Rp 5,000 sanitation and security fee.

"I also pay Rp 1,000 every day ... I don't understand what the
money is for," she said.

Cipulir market head N. Taryono said his office did not collect
any fees other than those PD Pasar Jaya stipulated.

The Cipulir market provides 100 spaces for vendors with fees
ranging from Rp 150,000 to Rp 200,000 depending on size and
position.

Joni, a children's clothes seller in Kebayoran Lama, said he
paid Rp 1,750 a day to people he identified as city market firm
officials.

"I pay Rp 1,000 to one official and Rp 750 to another
official," Joni said. His space cost Rp 125,000.

Kebayoran Lama market has 110 spaces for vendors. The spaces
cost between Rp 75,000 and Rp 125,000 each.

In response to the councilor's comments Pasar Jaya's business
director Hamzah Jaspinoe said tougher measures were needed to
control illegal collectors.

Rp 1 million

Councilor Hasan Dasy said vendors should not be exploited. He
was referring to the high fee imposed on vendors with spaces in
Blok M where rental fees can reach Rp 1 million.

"That's too expensive. It will not only burden the vendors,
but also the consumers," Hasan said.

Pasar Jaya said earlier only 10 of 152 markets were designated
to accommodate roadside vendors during Ramadhan. All 10 are in
South and Central Jakarta.

The ten markets provide 1,069 vendor spaces and rental fees
range from Rp 20,000 to Rp 1 million.

In South Jakarta, markets providing extra space for roadside
vendors are Cipulir, Kebayoran Lama, Blok M Melawai, Blok A and
Pasar Minggu markets. In Central Jakarta the markets are Tanah
Abang, Pasar Senen, Kebon Jati, Bendungan Hilir and Palmerah.
(ste)