Office buildings to give spaces for sidewalk vendors

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja is urging the management of all office premises located along the city's main roads to provide spaces for sidewalk vendors. It is hoped the move will deter them from trading in prohibited areas.

"Street vendors, especially those trading in areas located around the Kuningan triangle park near Aini Eye Hospital and the Wisma Bakrie building, should be relocated in nearby buildings," the governor was quoted by South Jakarta Deputy Mayor H. Zainuddin as saying.

Zainudin told Antara, when he led an operation to curb street vendors in the mayoralty on Sunday, that the governor's request is aimed at easing the South Jakarta park office's task to restore the park and make it clean, beautiful and cozy.

During the operation, the chief of South Jakarta park office, S. Hutapea, said the office is planning to remodel the 2,000 square meter park soon.

Hutapea said new grass and decorative plants will be planted.

Setiabudi District Chief Kuswanda S.W., whose jurisdiction covers Kuningan, said his office has reprimanded the street vendors operating in the park five times but they have simply ignored the warnings.

Kuswanda denied allegations that his office collected fees or levies from the vendors. "The Setiabudi administration has never collected any fees nor levies from the vendors, but if they did then it must have been done illegally by some irresponsible people," Kuswanda said.

During the operation, Deputy Mayor Zainuddin was accompanied by South Jakarta Sanitary Office Chief Nur Altif, South Jakarta Public Works Office Chief Rochadi and the mayoralty's land traffic chief Bubung Burhana.

The city administration has made repeated efforts and spent a lot of money to prevent street vendors from trading in the restricted areas.

GUS

Last May the city administration established the Coordinating Agency for the Development of the informal Sector/Small-scale Business Group (GUS) to register the street vendors and relocate them in more appropriate places.

GUS has reportedly appropriated a 1,000 square meter plot of land near a police station on Jl. Raya Bogor in Cililitan area, East Jakarta, to accommodate sidewalk traders and street vendors.

The agency also plans to acquire around 3,000 square meters of land on Jl. Nusa also in the Cililitan area, and another 2,000 square meter plot of land in Galur, Central Jakarta.

The agency succeeded in moving some sidewalk traders who used to operate around the Bank Negara Indonesia 46 building on Jl. Sudirman, Central Jakarta, to the bank's basement.

According to 1991 statistics, there are 1.5 million people in Jakarta working in the informal sector. They include sidewalk traders and street vendors. (mas)