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mid criticism over the questionable integrity of some of its officers, the Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) has received the 2017 Most Innovative Agency award from the Home Ministry for the agency’s Orderly Sidewalk Month program.

“The award was given to us for organizing the program,” the agency’s head, Yani Wahyu, said on Wednesday.

In addition to Satpol PP, Yani said, other agencies from seven cities and provinces, including Yogyakarta, Bangka Belitung, South Sumatra and Aceh, had also received the award.

The sidewalk program was launched in August to prevent street vendors and motorists from encroaching on sidewalks.

Before the program, he said, the agency did not focus on sidewalks, but acted against squatting on riverbanks and under highways, or other infractions. “But sidewalk violations are something that we see every day and show a lack of order in the city, so I decided to focus on that,” he said.

In the first month of the program, officers from all five municipalities had to clear at least one priority area, usually next to train stations, markets or office complexes, which were prone to violations every day.

“So, there were at least 150 areas being cleared every month. Now, in total, we have cleared 575 priority areas across the capital,” he said.

He added that the agency cleared more than 24,000 obstructions in the form of street vendors, illegal parking and other problems over the course of four months.

The Jakarta Transportation Agency participated in the program by issuing fines for illegal parking on sidewalks. Since August, the agency removed 61,800 illegally parked vehicles.

However, Satpol PP has been in the spotlight over the past few weeks after the Ombudsman revealed that some of its officers had allowed street vendors to conduct activities on the city’s sidewalks in return for payments.

From the investigation conducted by the body, it was revealed that some gang members in Tanah Abang Market claimed the officers accepted between Rp 500,000 (US$36.90) and Rp 8 million per month from the vendors.

The practice of paying such fees was also discovered in the area near Mall Ambassador in Setiabudi, Central Jakarta, where money was distributed to the subdistrict and district office through the neighborhood unit (RT).

Under pressure to tackle the problem within his agency, Yani said he would relocate 5,000 agency officers before year end.

“They have worked in the same place for eight to 10 years, that can give them a personal connection to the area, which can cause problems,” he said.

Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) country director Yoga Adiwinarto said the enforcement of regulations must be more consistent.

“The challenge with Jakarta, given its very high mobility, is consistency,” he said.

Farid Mardhiyanto, founder of the Jakarta Good Guide, which organizes walking tours in the city, said the program had yet to lead to significant changes.

He said the success of the program would be indicated by more people walking on sidewalks, as most people were reluctant to do so, despite some sidewalks becoming more usable, such as in the Kota Tua area in West Jakarta, Jatinegara in East Jakarta and Blok M in South Jakarta.

“What we do in the Jakarta Good Guide is to hold a walking tour every week. It turns out Jakartans are willing to walk, even if only in the context of tourism.”