The Discourse On Placing Street Vendors On The Sidewalks Of Jakarta Reappears

Illustration / sidewalks in Jakarta (Irfan M / VOI)

JAKARTA - The DKI Provincial Government is discussing the placement of street vendors (PKL) on sidewalks. Head of the Highways Service, Hari Nugroho, said that PKL will be placed in sidewalk assets owned by the DKI Provincial Government.

"There are sidewalk assets that belong to the Bina Marga Service, which owns the MRT, and the Water Resources Service, the Parks Department. Later, each person who owns the assets will tell him where the point is," Hari said when confirmed, Tuesday, September 1.

Hari claims that the DKI Provincial Government has a strong legal basis for placing street vendors on the sidewalk, namely PUPR Ministerial Regulation Number 3 of 2014 concerning Guidelines for Planning the Provision and Utilization of Infrastructure and Pedestrian Networks in Urban Areas.

"According to PUPR Regulation No. 3/2014, it is explained that two-thirds (sidewalks) are for pedestrians, the rest are street vendors. So, pedestrians do not feel obstructed," said Hari.

Hari said, the discussion on the plan to place street vendors on the sidewalks is currently in the early stages. He admitted that he had not yet discussed the stall design that will be used by PKL assisted by the DKI Jakarta Industry, Trade, Cooperatives and MSMEs office, along with the budget that will be disbursed.

"I don't know, it's still early. If it's decided, the recommendation will come out (placement of street vendors) at this point, then the type of merchandise, just explained. Now I can't talk," said Hari.

Initially, DKI Governor Anies Baswedan issued a discourse on placing street vendors since last October 2019. According to him, sidewalks must be multifunctional in addition to pedestrians. The sidewalk should also be a convenient location for street vendors to sell.

"There is such a thing as sidewalk, or sidewalks can be multifunctional, so we want it to be multifunctional later, but every place is different, some are added with various other functions, some cannot," said Anies, at that time.

The Provincial Government of DkI uses PUPR Regulation Number 3 of 2014. In Article 13 Paragraph (2) of the PUPR Ministerial Regulation, the use of pedestrian network infrastructure is only permitted for the use of social and ecological functions in the form of cycling activities, social interactions, formal small business activities, exhibition activities in open space, green lines, and pedestrian facilities.

Based on the PUPR Ministerial Regulation, PKL who will later receive the stalls' quota are not allowed to trade permanently. The merchandise must be transferred. Then, they are also limited in selling time, not all day.

However, from all studies based on the legal basis of the ministerial regulation, the DKI Provincial Government is still hampered by higher regulations, namely Law Number 22 of 2009 concerning Road Traffic and Transportation (LLAJ Law).

Seeing the contents of Article 28 paragraph (2) of the LLAJ Law, every person is prohibited from committing an act that causes interference with the function of the sidewalk as one of the road equipment.