Tanah Abang vendors to be relocated
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
City-run market operator PD Pasar Jaya will relocate about 2,000 street vendors on Jl. Kebon Jati, located next to Tanah Abang textile market, Central Jakarta, starting on Nov. 14, the day before Idul Fitri.
PD Pasar Jaya president director Prabowo Soenirman said in a meeting at the City Council on Wednesday that the street vendors would have to pay Rp 4 million (US$440) per square-meter to rent a kiosk at the new market.
Jl. Kebon Jati, which separates Tanah Abang and Kebon Jati markets, has four lanes but three of them are occupied by street vendors. Only one lane remains available for passing vehicles.
Prabowo said that street vendors would be able to resume business one week after Idul Fitri at the Kebon Jati market, which will be called Block G.
The vacant road will serve as a temporarily location for traders, whose kiosks at Tanah Abang's Block B, C, D and E will be demolished.
The demolition is to meet the call from the City Construction Supervision and Regulation Agency (PPB) which said that the market would collapse within two years due to its deteriorating structure.
Tanah Abang will be converted into a 12-hectare mega-project stretching from the textile market to Tanah Abang railway station. The Rp 6 trillion project will consist of a wholesale market, trade center, office buildings, three-star hotels and low-cost apartments.
In the meeting, councillors questioned PD Pasar Jaya's reasons to demolish the market buildings.
Councillor Ahmad Nur Alam of Commission A for administrative and legal affairs asked PD Pasar Jaya for a second opinion from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB)'s study that recommended the demolition.
Prabowo had said earlier in his letter that vendors could get a second opinion, but it would not affect the administration's plan.
Councillors then proposed the establishment of an inquiry team to study the prolonged debate.
Deputy council speaker Maringan Pangaribuan said the result of Wednesday's meeting would be discussed in the Council leaders' meeting before it passed the recommendation.