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)