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)