Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) will cease accepting new applications for the Madani KL licence, issued as part of the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) programme.
The licence was previously known as Lesen Prihatin KL.
According to a statement from DBKL’s Corporate Communi-cations Unit, existing temporary licence holders may continue to renew their licence every six months.
The statement said traders operating in hotspot areas which have garnered numerous complaints on obstruction, hygiene and congestion would be relocated to more suitable locations.
DBKL has identified 11 new sites for the KL Madani licence vendors.
Currently, traders are operating at nine of these sites, with the remaining two expected to be operational by early February.
The new locations include DBKL food courts and various wet and night markets in the city.
Under the KL Madani licence programme, traders are required to pay a licence fee of RM20 and monthly operation fee of RM30.
Recently, StarMetro reported that the Federal Territories Department (JWP) was reviewing the effectiveness of the FTZ programme for hawkers.
The programme was launched on Nov 10, 2020, and aimed primarily to help the B40 group earn a decent income during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The programme has been extended five times and concluded at the end of December 2023.
Residents have raised many concerns about the licensed hawkers who violated licensing agreements, thereby having a bad impact on public safety and cleanliness.
Common issues include obstruction caused by traders who leave behind items like chairs, tables, and canopies after business hours, and those trading at unauthorised sites.
Since its inception, over 5,000 trading licences have been issued in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan.
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