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A local company’s plan to expand its 7-Eleven franchise nationwide appears stalled after its permits and motives were questioned by both local and central government officials on Friday.

The country’s first outlet of the biggest convenience store chain in the world opened earlier this month in the busy Bulungan area of South Jakarta.

Lim Djwe Khian, a director of PT Modern Putra Indonesia, which holds the 7-Eleven franchise for this country, told Bisnis Indonesia last week that it had secured permits from the local government to open a “modern” retail store and restaurant.

The opening of “modern” stores, defined as also including convenience stores, is subject to tight legal restrictions designed to protect traditional markets and vendors.

Modern Putra is a subsidiary of PT Modern Internasional, a manufacturer and retailer of photographic, electronic and telecommunications products with more than 1,000 retail outlets across the country.

According to a filing with the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), Modern Internasional intends to convert all of its outlets into 7-Elevens, meaning that, should everything go according to plan, they will become a common sight around the country.

But government officials have started to question its permits.

Ade Soeharsono, the head of the Jakarta Business and Trade Cooperative, which is responsible for business licensing, said on Friday that the Jakarta government had introduced a moratorium on the issuing of convenience store permits in 2006. “As far as I am concerned, I never issued any business permit to PT Modern for a 7-Eleven store,” Ade said.

Also on Friday, a Trade Ministry official who requested anonymity said Modern Internasional was not registered as the local 7-Eleven franchisee.

Meanwhile, the Trade Ministry’s director general of domestic trade, Subagyo, questioned why Modern Putra wanted to operate both a convenience store and a restaurant. “If a retailer gets a permit for a convenience store, please stick to the convenience store. There’s no need to also open a restaurant,” he said.

PT Modern representatives did not respond to inquiries from the Jakarta Globe.