City to streamline investment permit system

The city administration will launch a one-stop integrated service for foreign and domestic capital investment licensing on Sept. 22 in a bid to simplify registration for capital investment, an official says.

“Under this program, the investment permit process in Jakarta will only take up to 38 days,” Governor Fauzi Bowo said recently.

He said foreign capital investment and domestic capital investment contributed 16.5 percent of total investment in the city.

The integrated service was developed in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Previously, the IFC’s program coordinator for investment climate advisory services Farida Lasida Adji said there would be three kinds of simplified capital investment permits available in the city. The three types would have processing times of 10 days, 25 days and 38 days depending on the type of business permit requested.

The city administration’s assistant secretary for administration and financing Hasan Basri said the new system was expected to boost contribution from the capital investment sector.

The Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has targeted to see Rp 51 trillion (US$5.6 billion) in investment in the city this year to finance its infrastructure projects, including a new port in the Marunda special economic zone.

Last year, capital investment in Jakarta was Rp 64.79 trillion, or up 41 percent from the initial target of 46 trillion.

Last November, the central government launched a one-door service program to cut the high-cost of permits and to ensure certainty for investors.

Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi also launched a series of national guidelines for the implementation of the one-stop service program. The Corruption Eradication Commission said the establishment of the one-stop service was a form of bureaucratic reform in local administrations and could directly benefit local people who wanted to run small enterprises.

“It could be a ‘quick win’ as local people could directly benefit from the implementation of the one-stop service,” said Bey Arifianto, a staff member at the commission’s research and development unit.