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usiness players in Bandung, West Java, have urged the local administration to improve its online permit registration system to not only ensure efficiency but also help curb rampant corruption in one of the country'€™s largest cities.

In late May, the Bandung Integrated Licensing Service Agency (BPPT) launched an online system that facilitates the issuance of 24 kinds of permits, including building permits (IMB), business permits (SIUP) company registrations (TDP) and public nuisance permits.

Santo Borromeus Hospital secretary Kornelius Rukmana, who recently accessed bppt.bandung.go.id to submit an extension request for the hospital'€™s public nuisance permit, said the online system had made the process '€œeasier and more practical'€.

'€œWhen we submitted the nuisance permit [request] for the first time, we had to wait up to three hours to submit the request in person. Now, it'€™s just a click away,'€ Kornelius told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Prior to the launch of the online service, a company had to wait up to one month to have a nuisance permit request approved. The new online process, Kornelius said, has not only cut the waiting time to 14 days but also increased transparency.

'€œFor us, it gives more certainty,'€ he said.

Separately, the head of the Bandung branch of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Deden Hidayat, urged the local administration to implement a similar system to other business-related services, including taxpayer registration.

A reliable and transparent taxpayer registration system, according to Deden, would encourage more businesspeople to fulfill their obligation of paying taxes.

'€œBoth businesspeople and the government must jointly evaluate the condition [of the current tax payment system] so that the latter does not easily jump to the conclusion that all businesspeople are reluctant [to pay taxes],'€ he said.

A recent survey conducted by Transparency International Indonesia (TII) revealed that this year, Bandung, home to 2.5 million people, was the most corrupt city in the nation.

Interviewing 1,100 entrepreneurs in 11 cities from May 20 to June 17 this year to measure their perceptions on corruption, the survey found that Bandung was placed lowest with a score of 39, on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (clean), followed by Pekanbaru with 42 and Makassar with 48.

A higher score indicated that a city provided better assistance for entrepreneurs run their businesses.

Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil said he appreciated the results of the survey. '€œMaybe our grade is not that good today. But I feel encouraged to fix it,'€ he said on Wednesday.

Ridwan also said he would continuously evaluate the city'€™s newly launched online permit registration system to ensure that it satisfied both the government and the public.

'€œI will carry out an [evaluation] by the end of the year. If we run an evaluation now, the period to gather feedback [from the public] will be too short,'€ he said.