City plans to remove Kota terminal

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.