Street vendors' welfare

Street vendors' welfare

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council has criticized the city
administration for failing to improve the welfare of street
vendors operating in the city.

Lukman F. Mokoginta, chairman of the Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI) faction of the council, said over the weekend that
the welfare of street vendors will be considered improved when
many of them manage to operate their own kiosks or legally hire
space at new markets in the capital.

Lukman said the city administration should not consider the
increase in total fees collected from sidewalk vendors a success.
The municipal government reported recently that the fees
collected from the vendors during the 1994/1995 fiscal year
reached Rp 1.6 billion (US$736,468), far exceeding the target of
Rp 1.4 billion.

"Don't see this figure as a success, because it shows that the
city administration's efforts to reduce the number of street
vendors has completely failed," Lukman said.

The higher amount of fee collection indicates that the number
of vendors is growing, not falling as expected, he said. (32)