The new licensing regime requires vendors to register a fixed pitch, maintain records and pay a monthly fee. Officials describe it as a route to credit and legal protection.
Vendors describe something else: an administrative cost that lands hardest on the smallest traders. Several said the fee exceeds a typical day's margin during the slow season.
Researchers who study informal economies note that formalisation succeeds when it delivers a tangible benefit — usually credit access or protection from eviction — within the first year.