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mid the central government'€™s boast of cutting red tape to debottleneck business licensing issues through deregulation and the establishment of one-stop integrated services (PTSP), business groups have revealed that reform has yet to be fully adopted by local administrations.

Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) executive director Cyprianus Aoer said members of the association still faced uncertainty in procuring licenses from local authorities.

'€œIn many regions, the PTSPs are still finding their feet,'€ he said, adding that permits were different between regions, depending on the respective administrations'€™ policies.

For instance, he said, building specifications for starred hotel categories required to arrange building permits might vary from one city to another.

'€œWe hope the government will issue guidelines to local administrations so their regulations don'€™t differ too widely from those of the central government,'€ he said.

Voicing similar concerns, Indonesian Mining Services Association (IMSA) executive director Susanto Joseph said that decentralization had had a debilitating effect on licensing.

'€œ'€™Little kings rise, resulting in more complicated licensing processes than before, when permits were issued by the central government,'€ he said.

According to data from the Investment Coordinating Board'€™s (BKPM), as many as 511 PTSPs, had been established from the targeted 561 in regencies, provinces, special economic zones and free trade and harbor areas nationwide as of August, with 341 of them already connected online to the BKPM.

Deputy BKPM chairman for investment planning Tamba Hutapea said his office was in discussions with administration heads to ask them to delegate permit issuance authority to PTSPs.

Presidential Regulation number 97/2014 regulates that PTSPs must be established '€” under the aegis of local authorities, not the BKPM '€” by September this year at the latest, one year after the program was inaugurated on Sept. 18 last year. However, the regulation does not outline any sanctions for administrations that fail to establish such services.

The Vice President'€™s chief economic advisor and Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) advisory board chairman Sofyan Wanandi said on Thursday that the government was taking all measures needed to cut red tape and boost investment.

'€œThe government is deregulating 152 regulations that hamper investment. Most of them will be revoked,'€ he said, adding that the President had instructed a team to finish the task by year-end, with a discussion on the matter to be held at the Bogor Presidential Palace in West Java next week.

Sofyan added, however, that the regulations subject to review were those of the central government, while equivalent regulations at the local level would be examined afterwards.

Separately, Atma Jaya Catholic University economist A Prasetyantoko said that the private sector should be involved in the realization of state projects, as government expenditure alone would not be enough to boost the country'€™s economic growth.

'€œThe impact of spending must be multiplied by private companies through investment,'€ he said, adding the investors would be attracted by more fluent licensing procedures and better synchronization between branches and levels of government. (prm)