Businessmen want to regain permits

JAKARTA (JP): Kebayoran Baru businesspeople demanded on Friday that the Jakarta administration allow them to reopen their businesses in areas zoned for residential use.

A group of 10 people, representing more than 500 businesspeople from the Kebayoran Baru Businessmen Association (P2KB), attempted and failed to meet with city councilors.

They told journalists they had the "necessary permits", including building permits and business permits, to operate their businesses.

Soeryo Soedibyo, P2KB secretary, said the South Jakarta mayoralty's spatial planning in the Kebayoran Baru district needed review.

The Kebayoran Baru residential area was designed in the 1950s as a satellite town for Jakarta. But the rapid development of the capital turned the area into one of the most upmarket locations in the city.

According to administration regulations, businesses are not allowed to operate in residential areas.

Many businesses have been sealed off for violating the regulations. However, the administration has become the target of criticism for being inconsistent and discriminative in enforcing the regulations.

Poor coordination among agencies and institutions issuing permits have been blamed for many of the inconsistencies.

Home owners in the area said many businesses were allowed to remain open despite the fact they were located in residential areas.

"We had a permit for the house and the business, still the city administration closed our business," said Soeryo, whose cafe on Jl. Pela Raya was shut down last year.

"When we applied for the (business) permit at the mayoralty's City Tourism Agency, we were not informed about the spatial planning of the subdistrict," he said.

Association chairman D. Nawolo Baskoro said sealing off houses being used for commercial purposes was not an appropriate policy.

"How about the 25,000 people employed by the businesses? How about our billions of rupiah investment? We also pay taxes to the government," said Nawolo. His Tea Box Cafe on Jl. Wijaya II was sealed off last year.

Nawolo said about 300 out of 500 businesses in Kebayoran Baru had been sealed by the South Jakarta mayoralty since early this year.

Most of the businesses were cafes, restaurants, bars and karaoke halls, art galleries and furniture shops, located in zoned residential areas, said Nawolo.

He said the businesspeople needed more lenient regulations which would accommodate their aspirations.

He also said the businesspeople were demanding more areas be made available for businesses.

Discriminative

Soeryo reiterated that the enforcement of the regulations was inconsistent. "Some places were sealed off, while some others were left open. Some of the business owners were summoned by the district court and were told to pay a Rp 50,000 fine, and they were allowed to reopen their businesses after that."

Separately, the head of the building supervisory agency at the South Jakarta mayoralty, Agus Irawan, said so far only 30 houses had been sealed off for being used for commercial purposes, and 53 house owners had been tried at the South Jakarta District Court.

"We always apply the standard procedures," said Agus.

The head of tourism agency at the mayoralty, Tatang S. Sumantri, said his office had never issued a business permit for commercial activities in Kebayoran Baru. He was referring to claims by some businesspeople that they had legal business permits issued by the administration.

He said his office recorded 224 unlicensed businesses in Kebayoran Baru, adding that business registration permits also were issued by the City Health Agency. (07)