Council supports relocation
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The City Council threw its weight behind West Jakarta municipality's plan to relocate street vendors in the downtown area of Glodok to nearby markets, but called on the municipal administration not to use violence.
"We support the plan. But, we don't want another clash (between public order officers and street vendors) as what had happened in Pasar Minggu," said Achmad Suaedy, who chairs the City Council's Commission A overseeing administrative affairs.
Hundreds of street vendors cluttering the Pasar Minggu bus terminal in South Jakarta, who refused to be relocated, were caught in a brawl with public order officers on Aug. 20.
The vendors opposed the relocation plan though the new 8,000 square meters location is only 500 meters away from the terminal, complaining that the new location are not strategic and therefore would not attract people to come.
Suaedy asserted that the officers had to try to persuade the vendors to relocate.
The West Jakarta municipality has been overwhelmed by complaints from residents as well as businesspeople that the street vendors occupying road shoulders and pedestrian sidewalks had caused chronic traffic jams in the area and made customers reluctant to come.
The administration said earlier that it planned to move the vendors to a new location before the celebration of the Independence Day on Aug. 17.
Suaedy said that his commission would summon city market operator PD Pasar Jaya to discuss the preparation of the markets, which will be used as relocation sites for the street vendors in Glodok.
"We heard that the main obstacle to the relocation plan was that Pasar Jaya had not prepared space in the nearby markets for the street vendors," he said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Agustinus Fadjar Panjaitan acknowledged that there were difficulties.
"We need careful preparation to make the relocation successful. We are preparing space at the Perniagaan and Glodok traditional markets for the vendors," he said.
The relocation is likely to be done in the next two months.
"We will prioritize the 800 vendors who now occupy Jl. Pancoran. After that, we will also move other 200 vendors from Jl. Petak Sembilan," he said.
Glodok was the center of business and cultural activities in the city in the 19th century under the Dutch administration. The area is now better known for its poorly maintained buildings, traffic jams, recurrent flooding, parking problems, street vendors and heavily polluted rivers.