City plans to remove Kota terminal

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The West Jakarta municipality plans to remove the bus terminal in downtown Kota, West Jakarta in order to help alleviate chronic traffic congestion around the old downtown area and get rid of all the eyesores.

"We have requested that the City Transportation Agency remove the terminal... We don't really need such a bus terminal there," West Jakarta Mayor Fajar Panjaitan told The Jakarta Post on Monday at City Hall.

Fajar said that scores of buses packing the terminal had caused traffic jams on Jl. Kali Besar Barat and Jl. Kali Besar Timur.

"We have yet to mention the ubiquitous street vendors and their dozens of makeshift stalls, which make the whole area more messy and dirty," he said.

Fajar explained that the City Transportation Agency had expressed its support for the plan.

The agency's officials, however, could not on Monday be reached for comment.

In addition to the plan, the administration plans to relocate hundreds of street vendors off of the narrow roads in Kota and encourage them to move their stalls and carts to nearby traditional markets owned by city market operator PD Pasar Jaya as part of a project to revitalize the historic section of town.

Pasar Jaya president director Prabowo Soenirman said that the company was preparing a special area inside traditional markets to accommodate the vendors.

"But, first, I have to clarify some misperceptions among the vendors that they could simply obtain space or kiosks for free," Prabowo said.

Prabowo added that the vendors would be given a grace period of six months before they would be required to pay rental fees.

Neither Fajar or Prabowo were able to specify the number of vendors that would be relocated or when the plan would be carried out.

The West Jakarta municipal administration has made the revival of the old town area a priority this year. The project covers the are bordered by Jl. Roa Malaka Utara, Jl. Kali Besar Timur and Jl. Kali Besar Barat, which are lined with shops and cafes. Their hope is to turn it into a clean, classy night dining center and shopping region.

In the 19th century during the Dutch administration, Kota played an important role as the center of business, residential estates and cultural activities.

The area is currently notorious for its poorly maintained and antiquated buildings, traffic jams, recurrent flooding, on-street parking problems, street vendors clogging the roads and the disgustingly polluted rivers.