The vendors, most of whom sell fruit, vegetables or plastic furniture, owed the administration a total of Rp 6.5 billion (US$ 460,000) in rent as of February this year, according to data from the Jakarta Cooperatives, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Agency.

Agency records show that tenants in 19 city-run permanent selling locations called lokbin and 231 temporary locations, or loksem, had not paid rent since 2015.

“The rent is around Rp 3,000 to Rp 4,000 per day. This is quite cheap, but they are still reluctant to pay,” the agency’s head Adi Adiantara told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

However, the agency did not have exact figures on the tenants occupying the locations.

Nina, 34, a street vendor who set up a small stall behind the Pasar Rumput low-cost apartment building in South Jakarta, said she had occupied a space at the Muria Dalam lokbin for several months in 2016.

The permanent location is located on Jl. Menteng Pulo Raya or 2 kilometers from her current location.

However, she recalled that sales at Muria Dalam were not as good as on the street. Hence, Nina decided to go back and set up the small stall again in 2017, using a tarpaulin roof, wooden poles and some rope to support it.

“It’s not only me but others too that returned to the street, because it was very quiet there at Muria Dalam, even though the rent was low,” she told the Post.

While selling on the street can drive up sales, it often comes with its own challenges. Agus, 45, said his stalls and those of others were often disbanded by Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) personnel for occupying the roadside.

In the latest such incident, he said, nearly 70 stalls had been disbanded by Satpol PP personnel together with military and police on March 8.

“They said we were disrupting road access for residents of the apartments. They also said that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was going to pass the area, but he didn’t,” Agus said, adding that he and fellow vendors had returned to the street the next day.

The Taman Kota Intan lokbin, which stands just 100 meters from the prominent tourist destination of Kota Tua in West Jakarta, is also considered too quiet for business.

A vendor named Wendy, 35, said he did not want to be at the Taman Kota Intan anymore, even though the rent was quite low. He said he had kept his stall at the location closed for the past four months and had gone back to Kota Tua.

“I was there in 2017, when the administration relocated the street vendors from Kota Tua, but there are more people here in Kota Tua. The crowds are passing by us, unlike in the lokbin area,” said the food and soft drink seller.

The agency was aware of the situation, Adi said, adding that his office would not force the vendors to return to the designated area.

“We will not forbid those who want to go back to the street, because there are still vendors who want to use the locations, but don’t blame us if the Satpol PP raid them again,” Adi said.

The agency had been working with city-owned lender Bank DKI to provide a debit payment system for tenants to pay their rent at the permanent locations and temporary locations, but the scheme was only presented in January on the grounds of mounting arrears.

“Although the amount is not significant for the city budget, we need to address this system. We don’t want them to accumulate more arrears,” he said.

Adi added that the agency and Bank DKI had also recorded the personal details of 88 percent of the vendors. The city had also developed a mobile banking system for vendors to pay their rent through their smartphones.

“I hope everyone will be able to use it next month,” Adi said. (ggq)

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