Street vendors along Jl. Thamrin to be relocated
Street vendors along Jl. Thamrin to be relocated
JAKARTA (JP): City administration will relocate all street
vendors along Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Jend. Sudirman, in Central
Jakarta, to new sites in high-rise building complexes in the area
in April.
Head of the small-scale business improvement project Aris
Djazuli told reporters over the weekend that the relocation of
the street vendors is intended mainly to help ease traffic along
these streets.
"The street vendors undisciplined operations disturb the
public and are bad for the image of this city as the capital of
Indonesia," Aris said, adding that the street vendors will be
placed in parking lots or courtyards of buildings.
"Hopefully, there will no longer be street vendors along these
two major roads after the implementation of the relocation
program," Aris said.
Aris explained that currently there are 98 street vendors in
operation along Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Jend. Sudirman, most of
whom are selling foods and beverages as well as magazines.
These vendors, he said, are currently occupying parts of the
sidewalk and bus shelters or other public facilities, including
pedestrian bridges.
Aris said his office has negotiated with the owners of
buildings along these streets about the problem and most of them
agree with the city administration's proposal to accommodate them
in parts of their complexes.
Aris said the number of high-rise buildings along these
streets is greater than the number of street vendors to be
relocated. "There are 31 buildings along Jl. MH Thamrin and 48
buildings along Jl. Jend. Sudirman," he said.
Aris explained that the relocation of the vendors on these
roads constitutes one of the city programs designed to help
improve small-scale businesses.
"Basically there are three major aspects faced by small-scale
businessmen: capital, location and management," Aris said.
Besides providing them with location, through the relocation, the
city administration also gives street vendors soft loans and
management assistance.
Research conducted by city administration shows the number of
street vendors in Jakarta in 1993 reached 88,395, of which 74,100
were operating in restricted areas. Aris said about 38 percent of
those street vendors were occupying sidewalks and 24.4 percent
were on roads in the city.
Aris said that under the relocation drive on Jl. MH Thamrin
and Jl. Jend. Sudirman, street vendors will not be asked to pay
for their new space because it will be covered by building
owners.
"I guarantee that the relocation program will not cause them
financial losses because our main intention is to provide them
with a better place and to improve their welfare," he said.
He said that based on a similar operation conducted earlier,
relocating street vendors to high-rise building complexes did
help increase their profits and their business prospects. (yns)