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andung municipality in West Java will limit the number of street vendors to no more than 20,000, in a bid to coordinate their areas of operation and ease traffic access in the city. The vendors currently use city sidewalks to conduct their trade, causing congestion.

A lawmaker at the Bandung council, Haru Suandharu, said the restriction was aimed at regulating all the vendors. “We don’t want the number of vendors to increase and the present vendors must also be organized,” Haru said in Bandung.

Based on data from the Bandung Cooperatives, Industry and Trade Office, the number of vendors in the city was 20,326 in 2012. Around 79 percent of them are from outside the province, 10 percent are native Bandung residents with the remainder coming from surrounding areas.

The restriction on the number of street vendors, said Haru, was part of the implementation of Bandung municipal ordinance No. 888/2012 on zone, public order and street vendor supervision. City public order officers have been enforcing regulations on orderliness, city comfort and beauty in a bid to clamp down on the street vendors.

The Bandung municipality has announced three zones — red, yellow and green. Vendors are banned from selling their wares in a red zone. There are 236 designated red zones. The 296 yellow zones can be used for business only at certain times, while in another 64 green zones street vendors may trade freely.

The red zones will be implemented on national and provincial roads, at military complexes, hospitals, city parks and places of worship, while the yellow zones will be located near public spaces, such as the Gasibu and Tegallega Squares.

Basuki Bobby Rahmadi, 31, a street vendor on Jl. Sultan Agung, said the concept of the zoning system, which is expected to limit the number of vendors, was still unclear. “In reality, there are seven points along the main roads which should be free of sidewalk vendors, but many vendors are still operating there” he said.

Another vendor, Iyan Mulyana, agreed. According to him, the municipality has required each vendor to register and obtain a membership card. However, to obtain the card, vendors have to sign a letter relinquishing their spots should the government need them.

“We have to sign an official document, meaning if our spots are taken, we will not get compensation,” said Iyan, who is also member of the Dago Traditional Service Vendor Association.

Controlling the street vendors in Bandung is a complicated issue. In 2010, the administration provided between Rp 2.5 million (US$270) and Rp 5 million to street vendors, who were from outside Bandung to return to their hometowns. However, they soon returned to resume trading in the city.

Currently, the Bandung municipality has formed a task force, led by Vice Mayor Ayi Vivananda, to regulate the vendors. One of its duties is to coordinate with the Bandung Regional Market company to seek land for vendors operating along the sidewalks and relocate them to the market.