T

he Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) has added five more permits to the package of licenses that can be processed in just three hours.

BKPM chief Franky Sibarani said in Jakarta on Tuesday that with the addition of the five permits to the licensing package, investors would be able to focus on their businesses as soon as they obtained the permits.

'€œBy doing this, we want to provide certainty that their permits are complete beforehand so they can operate with more confidence and of course we want to lure more investors to invest here,'€ he told a press briefing at the BKPM office.

In late October the BKPM issued a licensing policy that allowed investors with investments worth a minimum of Rp 100 billion (US$7.3 million), or who planned to employ at least 1,000 workers, to process their principal investment permit, company deed and tax identification number (NPWP) in just three hours as part of the government'€™s program to ease doing business in the country.

In the past, principal permits took at least three days and other permits were applied for separately at different agencies and ministries.

Franky said his agency had decided to add five more permits to the licensing package after discovering that the BKPM encountered few problems in processing the three previous permits within the three-hour time limit.

The five new permits included in the list are the business registration (TDP); expatriate placement (RPTKA) and Expatriate Placement Plan (IMTA) for a maximum 10 people; producer import licenses (API-P) and custom registration number (NIK).

In addition to the eight permits, investors can also obtain their land booking document as part of the licensing package in three hours.

The so-called '€œEight plus One in Three Hours'€ policy also allows those investing outside industrial estates to use the service. Before, it was only applicable for those intending to open factories in industrial estates.

Next year, the BKPM expects to bring in Rp 595 trillion in both domestic and foreign investments, a 14.5 percent increase from this year'€™s target of Rp 519.5 trillion. By September it had recorded Rp 400 trillion and is optimistic about reaching Rp 540 trillion by year-end.

Koko Matthew, marketing director for Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate (JIIPE) in Gresik, East Java, lauded the government'€™s move to add more permits to the fast-track licensing service.

'€œThis is something that investors have been waiting for. They want more certainty, protection and incentives,'€ he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Eddy Widjanarko, chairman of the Indonesian Footwear Association (Aprisindo) said the BKPM'€™s decision to add five more permits to the fast-track licensing list would certainly help investors, because with such facilities, they would be able to focus on their business activities.

'€œIn general, we see improvements and I think this new policy is even better. Big investors usually needed two weeks to get permits,'€ he said.

BKPM deputy for investment services Lestari Indah said the '€œEight plus One in Three Hours'€ service differed from the old ways of getting permits as investors should go directly to the one-stop service in the BKPM office.

'€œIn the past, they could do it through law firms but now they have to be present during the process to explain their business plan and to sign the deeds,'€ she said Tuesday. (rbk)