Retailers want fewer licenses
Retailers want fewer licenses
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Retail Business Association has asked the government to reduce the number of licenses needed to establish a retail business, the association's chairman Kustarjono Prodjolalito said.
"Retail businessmen are now facing severe problems because they have to obtain more than 46 permits from both the central government and the provincial administrations before they can open for business," Kustarjono was quoted as saying by Bisnis Indonesia daily on Saturday.
He said the licenses are related to location, building, power connections from the state electricity company, the Ministry of Manpower, the state water supply company, as well as the fire and the environmental offices.
Other permits required are related to parking space, sewage treatment, garden space, exits, customs services and public nuisance potential.
In addition to those numerous permits, investors in supermarkets also have to obtain additional permits from the local husbandry, fishery, agriculture, forestry and health offices, Kustarjono said.
"We have also to pay twice for the processing of permits related to public nuisance because such a permit is required not only for the whole building, but also for each space rented to retailers," Kustarjono complained.
On top of those permits mentioned above, retail shops must obtain licenses from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. This takes from three to four months.
He said the processing of those permits obviously requires a lot of money and is time consuming.
Kustarjono estimated that the processing of those licenses at the provincial administrations and central government offices costs more than Rp 55 million (US$24,000) and takes several months and, sometimes, more than one year.
Kustarjono said that the association hopes the government will establish a licensing system under one roof to overcome the problem." We don't argue about the legal levies, we want to get our permits in a short time through a simple licensing system," he said. (04)