President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo has said infrastructure and deregulation are the keys for Indonesia to win the regional competition in ASEAN.

He further said regional competitiveness must be achieved as it had entered the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which took effect in January.

'€œWe cannot get it [regional competitiveness] out of the way. This is the era of competition among countries,'€ said Jokowi in Jakarta on Monday.

The President said that infrastructure and deregulation, including improved rankings in doing business, were two things the government was focusing on to attract investors.

'€œThe period of 2015-2030 is critical in our infrastructure development as we have to compete with our neighboring countries,'€ he said.

Among ASEAN countries, Jokowi said Indonesia still lagged far behind in the ease of doing business as it ranked 109th out of 189 countries in 2016, according to a survey. Meanwhile, Singapore ranked first, followed by Malaysia at 18th, Thailand at 49th, Brunei Darussalam at 84th, Vietnam at 90th, and the Philippines at 103rd.

Indonesia ranked 120th in the ease of doing business in 2015.

Jokowi said it was hoped that Indonesia'€™s position could jump to 40th in 2017.

The President further said deregulation was important to address the ease of investing at the regional and local levels.

He said that around 42,000 regulations and rules had hampered the country'€™s bureaucracy and that he had instructed his Cabinet to slash these regulations and rules.

Citing examples, Jokowi said a long dwelling time in ports across Indonesia was indicated to have inflicted Rp 740 trillion (US$55.10 billion) worth in financial losses upon the state due to inefficiency. Loading and unloading at ports now only took three days, he added, a decrease from four days in January and six days prior to that.

Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said Indonesia's dwelling time was targeted to reach less than three days, similar to neighboring countries Malaysia and Singapore.

"The main target is not the value of our efficiency but the same dwelling time as Malaysia, at least," he said.

Main competitors

Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Franky Sibarani said Indonesia considered Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar the biggest competitors in ASEAN; hence, it was working on investment synergy between central and local governments.

Referring to Financial Times data, Franky said Indonesia had received 34 percent of total global investment flows in ASEAN, followed by Vietnam 19 percent, Malaysia 12 percent and Myanmar 9 percent.

"The three countries have become our main competitors," he said at the 2016 Consolidation Meeting for National Investment (KP3MN) Planning and Implementation at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday.

Franky said Vietnam was focusing on investment in the country'€™s industrial area. Malaysia ranked 18th in the ease of doing business while Indonesia stood at 109th. Meanwhile, Myanmar had seen a twofold increase in investment.

"Therefore, we need to make a breakthrough to compete," he said.

Further, Franky said KP3MN aimed to build synergy between the central government and regions in the acceleration of investment services. One-stop integrated services (PTSP) would be formed in 511 or 91 percent of Indonesia'€™s regions, an increase from 463 in 2014.

Following the second economic policy package, the government has launched investment facilities in 14 industrial zones and achieved three-hours licensing services for infrastructure.

Franky said investors could now build in industrial zones directly after they received principle permits through investment-license facilities in industrial estates.

As of Feb.18, 20 companies have utilized the three-hour licensing service with total commitment to reach Rp 52.9 trillion and will absorb 15,939 Indonesian workers.

"The speeding up of licensing services will be conducted not only in the BKPM but also in technical ministries," Franky said.

According to BKPM data, investment commitment reached Rp 545.5 trillion in 2015, or up by 17.8 percent compare to 2014, creating employment for 1.4 million people. For Java alone, the increase in investment reached 13 percent to Rp 296.8 trillion in 2015.

"Meanwhile, investment in areas outside Java rose by 25 percent in 2015 from the previous year to reach Rp 248.6 trillion," he said. (ebf)

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