6 Weeks Emergency PPKM Discourse, Mall Entrepreneurs: It Will Be Even Harder, Because Our Reserve Funds Have Been Drained In 2020

JAKARTA - The government is reported to have made a scenario for the implementation of the Emergency Community Activity Restriction (PPKM) for up to 6 weeks. This extension is considered to cause quite a complicated problem for the management of shopping centers in the country.

Then, what will be the impact on shopping centers if this Emergency PPKM is extended? Chairman of the Indonesian Shopping Center Management Association (APPBI) Alphonzus Widjaja said that taking into account the trend in the number of positive COVID-19 cases in recent times, it is very likely that the implementation of Emergency PPKM will be extended.

However, said Alphonzus, if the government enforces this policy, the burden on shopping centers will become even heavier. Because, when entering the year 2021 in a more severe condition than the year 2020.

"Although 2020 was a very difficult year, business actors still have reserve funds. Business actors enter 2021 without having any more reserve funds because they have been depleted during the past 2020 which were used only to survive. ," he told reporters, Wednesday, July 14.

Moreover, said Alphonzus, business conditions in 2021 are still in deficit. Although, the business conditions until the first semester of 2021 were better than in 2020.

Furthermore, Alphonzus said that the 2021 deficit occurred because the restrictions on the number of visitors with a maximum capacity of 50 percent in shopping centers were still being enforced.

"The income of shopping centers has fallen sharply. Shopping centers must help tenants a lot to provide policies in terms of rental fees and service charges because the majority of tenants cannot operate during the implementation of Emergency PPKM," he explained.

In addition, said Alphonzus, shopping centers still have to bear the burden of expenses that are relatively not reduced even though they are not operational. For example, they must continue to pay various levies and taxes/levies imposed by the government.

"Even though they were asked to close or only operate on a very limited basis," he said.

Therefore, APPBI asks the government to provide various incentives for business actors to survive. These include electricity and gas incentives. Alphonzus said, even though there was no usage, they still had to pay bills because the government imposed minimum usage provisions.

Then, land and building tax incentives (PBB), billboards, royalties, licensing fees and so on. Because, said Alphonzus, the government still requires to pay in full even though the government asks to close.

According to Alphonzus, the government must provide this incentive to anticipate a surge in job cuts or layoffs due to the lack of income for entrepreneurs amidst the imposition of restrictions on community activities and the closure of shopping centers.

"If operational closures continue for a long time, many workers will be laid off and if the situation drags on, there will be more layoffs," he said.