S. Jakarta trains street vendors

JAKARTA (Jakarta Post): The South Jakarta municipal administration has provided management training for hundreds of registered street vendors from 43 locations within its area.

Assistant to the Municipality's Economic and Development Division, Fatahilah, said that the training was designed to help vendors properly manage their money as they often faced difficulties in developing their businesses.

"The vendors complain they cannot control their capital and mix up their profits with money for household expenses," he said, when opening the training course Saturday.

He also said that the inability to manage money also resulted in them having difficulties in securing loans as investors often asked them to show accounts.

According to Fatahilah, the municipal administration had registered street vendors and provided places to accommodate them as part of its efforts to bring order to the informal sector.

"They are often blamed for the chaos in Jakarta. That's why we have tried to organize and relocate them, and provide them with management training," he said, adding that there were more than 1,900 street vendors registered in the municipality. -- JP