Councilors urge building owners to train small-scale traders
Councilors urge building owners to train small-scale traders
JAKARTA (JP): City councilors are urging Jakarta high-rise
management firms to provide small-scale traders with space for
their businesses and training to help them improve their
competitive edge.
"We want you all to do more than just give them space," said
Joko Suwindi, a member of the City Council's Commission B on
economic affairs.
Joko made the announcement on Tuesday during an inspection at
Gajahmada Plaza, a major shopping-cum-office building managed by
PT Artabuana Sakti, a private company, on Jl. Hayam Wuruk in
Central Jakarta.
Small-scale traders, Joko said, need more training on
marketing to become more competitive.
Members of the council's commission and city officials visited
the shopping and business center to observe the implementation
of a 1983 Gubernatorial Decree which requires the managers of
skyscrapers to allocate 20 percent of their commercial space for
small-scale traders.
Arif P., a spokesman for PT Artabuana, said that the company
allocated less than the required 20 percent of its commercial
space for small-scale traders but compensated for this by paying
fees of around Rp 142 million (US$65,440) to the city
administration in 1982.
Owners of tall buildings can pay compensation money to the
city administration or build other projects for small-scale
traders in other areas if they don't allocate the 20 percent
stipulated by the decree.
The developer of Citraland Mall in Grogol, West Jakarta, for
instance, built a marketplace for small-scale traders at the
Citra Garden housing complex, said Eddy Sofyan Diat, the
divisional head in charge of small-scale traders at the city
administration.
He added that the final decisions regarding which traders
qualified for space in major shopping centers was made by a team
comprising officials from the mayoralty administration and the
City Market Authority (PD Pasar Jaya).
In a related development Nasir Sabara, the subdivisional head
in charge of economic affairs in the Central Jakarta mayoralty
administration -- who also accompanied the councilors during the
visit -- said that the mayor's office would gradually require all
tall buildings in the mayoralty to accommodate the street vendors
who operate in their surroundings.
Nasir said that, at present, his office is approaching owners
of tall buildings on Jl. Gajah Mada and in the Pasar Baru
shopping complex to persuade them to provide place for street
vendors within their buildings' compounds.
Nasir said that at least 34 tall buildings along Jl. Jend.
Sudirman, Jl. Thamrin and Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat have
accommodated 300 street vendors since the mayoralty
administration introduced the policy in 1993. (arf)