Medan City Government Immediately Regulates The Zoning Of Street Vendors

A number of Medan City Satpol PP officers disciplined street vendors at Kampung Lalang Market, Medan, North Sumatra. (ANTARA/HO-Diskominfo Medan City)

The Medan City Government, North Sumatra, will regulate the zoning of street vendors (PKL) to organize the comfort and aesthetics of cities that are getting neater in the Medan City area.

Assistant for Government and People's Welfare of the Medan City Secretariat, Sofyan, said that his party wanted this street vendor to be empowered as much as possible.

"We want how we can organize and empower street vendors, because they can also be a potential for us," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, August 7.

The current Medan City Government, he said, already has Medan City Regional Regulation (Perda) No.5/2022 concerning the Determination of the PKL Activity Zoning in Medan City.

His party suggested the need for implementation instructions (julak) and technical instructions (juknis), so that the location set has a legal basis and does not harm the street vendors.

"Before organizing, we have to compile the guidelines and technical guidelines for Perda No.5/2022 whether it is in the form of a regulation (the mayor's regulation). So that the location of the PKL zoning has a clear legal basis, precise and does not harm the street vendors themselves," said Sofyan.

Head of the Medan City Civil Service Police Unit, Rakhmat Adi Syahputra Harahap, admitted that currently based on his party's data, the number of street vendors in Medan City was 7,194 traders.

With this number of street vendors, he continued, of course, it takes arrangement so that the PKL zoning does not interfere with urban planning and creates congestion that causes harm to the community.

"Of course we want the right solution to be taken, and can organize street vendors in Medan City," he said.

His party said that based on Medan City Regulation No.5/2022, activities and locations for street vendors were set for three zones, namely red, yellow and green.

"The red zone is a location free from street vendor activities, such as provincial roads, national roads, in front of hospitals and places of worship," he said.

Meanwhile, the yellow zone is a location where the Medan City Government allows the existence of conditional temporal PKL activities, such as roads or certain areas that are regulated for operating hours.

"The green zone is the location permitted by the Medan City Government for street vendors with the arrangement and grouping of types of merchandise without time," said Rakhmat.