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Alternative marketplace turns off Tanah Abang street vendors
Only 51% of the kiosks at Blok F have been filled.
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Street vendors sell their merchandise on Jan. 9 in the vicinity of the new Tanah Abang Skybridge in Central Jakarta. (kompas.com/Rindi Nuris Velarosdela)
D
ozens of Tanah Abang street vendors have refused to do business after they were relocated to Blok F, located on the seventh floor of Tanah Abang Market in Central Jakarta.
Only 76 vendors were trading from the 149 kiosks at Blok F, which was initially intended to house the street vendors who had failed to obtain a spot at the newly built Tanah Abang Skybridge, said Jaya Arief Nasrudin, a director at city-owned market operator PD Pasar Jaya.
"Yes [the kiosks] are ready, with even rolling doors. [...] We are just waiting for [the street vendors] to arrive. They are the ones who do not want to come," Arief told kompas.com on Tuesday.
Arief had thus asked the street vendors to simply try out the location, which was still rent-free during this transitional period.
"I just want to ask our fellow street vendors, let's fill up the area first and not to be pessimistic. I know that [selling on the street] was their life, but they have to follow [the rules]," he said.
According to the Jakarta Ombudsman, 650 street vendors on Jl. Jatibaru Raya were eligible for relocation. Of these, 446 vendors had been relocated to the skybridge and the remaining 204 were to be relocated to Blok F. (mai)
