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arun, 58, was happy that it took him only five minutes to extend his vehicle registration certificate (STNK) at the Jakarta Public Service Mall in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

“The service here is very good and fast,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

It was his first visit to the mall to complete a document arrangement process. He said he used to go to a mobile vehicle registration facility in Kalibata, South Jakarta, where he usually had to endure long queues, as customers had to fill in forms and the process was carried out rather manually.

A friend told him about the service at the mall where he could extend the yearly STNK document faster.

“Here, I don’t have to fill in a form like usual. They scanned all my documents directly,” he added.

Aji Maulana, 23, a research consultant employee, echoed the same positive sentiment. As a consultant, he had visited the public service mall on several occasions to take care of documents. On Monday, he came to acquire a floor area ratio (PLB) permit for his institution.

The permit was issued within a month after he submitted the documents, with a surveyor team visiting the location before the permit was processed.

“Basically, if the documents are complete, it will be on time,” he said adding that the customer service at the mall was very helpful.

The Jakarta Public Service Mall is located inside a 14-story building owned by the city administration. Similar to a mall, the building is air-conditioned and brightly lit, although instead of lines of stores, there are lines of booths of the various ministries and agencies of the city administration.

It provides a total 330 services, including 269 services handled by the Jakarta Investment Service and One-Stop Integrated Service (DPMPTSP) Agency. The remaining services come from 18 institutions, including the Jakarta Tax and Levy Board, the Civil Registry and Population Agency, the Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan), the Jakarta Police, the immigration office and the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).

Since its inauguration on Oct. 12 last year, it has assisted 47,163 customers. In total, 27,588 customers have sought assistance from the PTSP Agency, while the remaining 19,575 customers have come for other institutions’ services.

Edy Junaedi, the Jakarta DPMPTSP head, said the mall welcomed up to 700 customers a day. They do not only come to submit permit requests, but also for consultations with the related agencies regarding the documents they are required to obtain.

The mall, the second built in the country after the one in Surabaya, East Java, has also welcomed work visits from representatives of 97 ministries, central government institutions and regional governments seeking to understand best practices in the provision of public services.

Edy said that the most in-demand service provided by his agency at the mall was business licensing. To support micro and small businesses, he said his agency had provided a one day service for processing micro and small business licenses (IUMK).

According to its records, in the first nine months of this year, the agency had issued a total of 14,799 permits comprising 11,726 general business permits (SIUP) and 3,073 IUMKs.

The latter figure has contributed to the employment of 6,092 people with a total investment of Rp 66.48 billion (US$4.38 million). Edy also noted that around 59 percent of IUMKs issued were for enterprises that had joined the administrations’ flagship entrepreneurship program OK OCE.

As the central government was also aiming to elevate the country’s ease of doing business ranking, Edy added that the agency was preparing to launch the Starting Business Corner, a consulting service for novice businesspeople on how to handle business permits.

“God willing, within one or two weeks, in early November, it will [be launched],” he said. (sau)