Mayor asked to restore order to Melawai area

Mayor asked to restore order to Melawai area

JAKARTA (JP): City councillors from Commission B on economic
affairs have urged the South Jakarta mayoralty and the city-owned
market operator PD Pasar Jaya to make serious efforts to restore
order at the popular Plaza Melawai market compound which has been
thronged by hundreds of street traders.

After leading the commission members on a visit to the area on
Tuesday, the commission chairman Syarief Zulkarnain said that
they had received complaints from representatives of the some 200
traders running their businesses inside the building.

The traders, he said, were unhappy with the presence of the
street vendors as the latter only created disorder in the
shopping area which, in turn, has badly affected their
businesses.

For years, hundreds of vendors have occupied many of the
public facilities in the vicinity of the market and its compound,
such as the streets, parking lot, sidewalks and the veranda of
the market building.

The traders at Plaza Melawai sell, among other things, gold
jewelry, watches, clothes, garments, and toys, while their
counterparts outside offer a wide range of goods, including
purses, belts and handbags -- all bearing fake brandnames --
traditional cakes and drinks.

Some of the wristwatches offered by the established traders
inside the market are also counterfeit big name brands.

Plaza Melawai is located in the popular Blok M shopping center
complex, adjacent to the Pasaraya center and Blok M mall.

Due to the presence of the street traders and the lack of law
enforcement on the part of the South Jakarta mayoralty, visitors
have to struggle through the crowd of vendors in order to move
from one building to another.

"In the short-term, the mayoralty has to relocate their
makeshift kiosks to other areas of the complex which are not so
busy," councillor Syarief said after the visit.

South Jakarta Mayor Abdul Mufti was not among the councillors
during the official trip. He was represented by members of his
staff.

Syarief said the commission deplored the mayoralty's failure
to provide the street traders with an alternative solution.

He also reminded the mayoralty staff that they would face
serious problems later in clearing the streets of the traders as
officials from PD Pasar Jaya have been collecting fees from them.

"The street traders feel that they have a right to do business
in the area because the market operator has been collecting fees
from them," he said, adding that such practice is
against Law number 18/97 on regional taxes and levies, which bans
the collection of fees from small traders.

The councillor also called on PD Pasar Jaya to further improve
its services to registered traders inside the building by
repairing the air conditioning system and 10 elevators, which
have been out of order for the past eight years. (06)