Vendors allowed to use Monas park
Vendors allowed to use Monas park
JAKARTA (JP): Street vendors are allowed to use the National
Monument (Monas) park as their business sites during the fasting
month of Ramadhan as of today.
Central Jakarta Mayor Abdul Kahfi said yesterday that 200
street vendors can operate at the western side of Monas from
today until the end of Ramadhan.
Kahfi said the mayoralty has also allotted two other locations
for street vendors; an area beside Istiqlal Mosque and another
beside the nearby Catholic cathedral. Each site can be used by
200 traders.
"The street vendors are allowed to sell their merchandise in
those locations from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. every day during
Ramadhan," he said.
The decision was in response to a councilor's suggestion to
use the National Monument (Monas) park as a center for street
vendors.
Hasan Dasy, a councilor from the City Council's Commission B
for economic affairs, urged the city administration to provide
special locations for street vendors during Ramadhan. He proposed
Monas as the location.
Hasan said that by providing space in Monas for the traders
during Ramadhan, the city administration would not have to chase
them away from unauthorized spots.
He also said the city administration should help the traders
obtain appropriate places because they had been exploited by
certain officials of PD Pasar Jaya to get temporary places in the
markets.
He alleged that street vendors each had to make Rp 500,000
(US$232.55) payoffs for business sites in a marketplace last
year.
Registration
To avoid possible "extortion" by officials, the Central
Jakarta mayoralty formed a special team to list vendors who want
to conduct business at the designated locations during Ramadhan.
Kahfi said that street vendors can register with the team at
the mayoralty office to get a spot in those locations.
He said the street vendors must pay for the business sites,
but he refused to say how much a street vendor would pay for the
space.
"It's not expensive. But they also have to pay sanitary fees
which range from Rp 500 to Rp 1,500 per person every day," he
said.
The fee is important to fund the cleanliness of the park after
the market is closed, he said.
Meanwhile, the West Jakarta mayoralty is also providing
locations for street vendors during Ramadhan, in the front yard
of Fatahillah museum and on Jl. Rute D, Cengkareng.
Major Sutardjianto said that both locations can accommodate
about 400 street vendors.
"They are allowed to open their businesses every day and there
is no time limit, they can trade there all day long," he said.
Unlike the Central Jakarta mayoralty which charges the traders
for the sites, Sutardjianto said his office will not charge the
vendors anything.
"They will have to pay the sanitary fee only," he said.(yns)