Street vendors to get designated trading sites

JAKARTA (JP): Three of the capital's five mayors have said they will provide designated areas to accommodate a sharp increase in the number of street vendors expected during the Ramadhan fasting month, which starts on Dec. 20.

The mayors of East, North and Central Jakarta told reporters on Wednesday that they planned to set aside special areas so that vendors would not attempt to sell their merchandise in public thoroughfares and on busy roads.

Speaking after a meeting with noted public figures at the City Hall, Andi Mappaganty, Subagyo and Andi Subur Abdullah said that they hoped the move would help to reduce traffic congestion in the city.

However, the mayors of South and West Jakarta, Abdul Mufti and Sarimun Hadisaputra, said they had yet to decide how to deal with the expected increase in vendors during the fasting month.

Mappaganty said that he would instruct his staff to prepare special plots of land across East Jakarta so that the vendors were spread evenly throughout the area.

"During the fasting month, especially as we near the Idul Fitri holiday, the number of vendors usually jumps by at least 10 percent. They usually set up stalls anywhere they like. We hope that if we accommodate them in specific locations then they will cease to cause traffic congestion," he said.

He was unable to say exact where the vendors would be accommodated.

He said that plots in his jurisdiction would be managed by mass organizations including the Panca Marga youth group, the Indonesian Veterans Corps and the Small-Scale Businessman's Association.

Mappaganty said that organizations managing the sites would be allowed to collect rent from the vendors. "It's a matter of profit sharing for celebrating Idul Fitri, you know.

"But we have urged them not to take too much money so as not to inflict too great a loss on the vendors," he said.

He said that a fair rent would be between Rp 50,000 (US$6.6) and Rp 100,000 for one plot for the whole of the fasting month.

Subagyo said that in North Jakarta, the vendors would be accommodated at a 4.5-hectare site on Jl. Yos Sudarso.

"We will establish a task force to manage the plot. I have instructed representatives of the task force not to burden vendors with high rents," he said.

Andi Subur said that in Central Jakarta, plots would be made available to vendors and temporary cheap markets would be set up in all districts two weeks before the Idul Fitri holiday.

"We'll invite all parties to join the project. Everything ranging from food to clothes will be on sale," he said.

However, several street vendors at the Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta expressed doubt over the plan. "They sometimes prepare places which are not suitable for making sales, such as areas where people rarely go. I think the authorities should think about which areas are suitable before they act," said a clothes vendor named Karwani.

Sutiah, who sells biscuits, said she was afraid that parties made responsible for managing the sites would abuse their power.

"Our experiences in past have shown this to be the case," she said.

She also said that unauthorized parties often forced vendors to pay illegal levies that were far higher than official levies set by the city administration. (ind)