Special sites for vendors planned

JAKARTA (JP): A City Council commission called on all five mayoralty offices on Thursday to open special sites for vendors who now occupy many of Jakarta's busy streets to the point of disrupting the flow of traffic.

Commission B on Economic Affairs said something must be done to contain the swelling number of street vendors. While they provide valuable economic services, especially during the economic crisis, their presence must also be regulated, it said.

The proposal was conveyed by commission chairman Syarief Zulkarnaen during a meeting with the head of the City's Economic Bureau, Dameria Saragih, to discuss solutions for street vendors.

"The administration has failed to come up with a proper approach to solve the problem. They have become uncontrollable, occupying the streets, parking lots and sidewalks," Syarief said.

He warned of dire social problems unless a solution was quickly found, noting that the administration currently has the capacity to foster only 20,000 small vendors.

Improper treatment by City Public Order officials have further aggravated the traders, he said.

The commission lauded the Central Jakarta Mayoralty for its plan to provide a huge space for small traders in the new four- story Senen bus terminal when it is completed in January.

It said that this could be a model for other mayoralties.

Syarief said money should not have been a major problem since the administration had ran a Rp 879 billion (US$92.5 million) surplus in the 1999/2000 budget which ended on March 31.

Council deputy chairman Muhammad Suwardi stressed the need for a humane approach to the problem of street vendors, recalling the warnings by some traders of violent resistance if the administration tried to remove them by force.

Dameria said PD Pasar Jaya, the city agency which manages 151 markets, have been ordered to accommodate street vendors in their respective locations.

But she said street vendors preferred to conduct their businesses in the open, such as on streets and sidewalks.

Damaria said the administration would look into the commission's proposal to set up special locations for street vendors. (06)