Mayor in hot water over illegal fees

JAKARTA: The City Council's Commission B for economic affairs has found that there a huge number of illegal fees collected from street vendors in the Senen commercial district in Central Jakarta municipality.

Commission member Selamat Nurdin said after visiting Senen on Monday that he had received complaints from vendors operating in a number of locations, including along the pavement near the bus terminal and Atrium mall.

According to Nurdin, the amount of illegal fees reaches Rp 20,000 (US$2.22) per month for security and Rp 2,000 for sanitation.

He said the commission would summon Central Jakarta Mayor Muhayat and Senen district head Rahmad Siddik to get an explanation.

"We want to know where the money goes because so far we have no clear explanation," he was quoted by Beritajakarta.com, a website operated by the city administration.

There are around 2,500 street vendors in the Senen area. --JP