Gov't Scrambles to Ease Permit Processes as Investments Worth $42.6b Wait in Pipeline
Jakarta. The government pledged it will streamline licensing processes to speed up investment in more than 1,000 public and private sector projects, worth approximately $42.6 billion, a minister said on Wednesday (10/01).
Coordinating Economics Minister Darmin Nasution said some of the new new projects have been proposed as early as September last year, after President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo issued a regulation to simplify and integrate business licensing processes.
The regulation sets a deadline in March for the government to begin operation of a single permit submission system, called the One Stop Integrated Service (PTSP). The new system is a complete overhaul to the current permit service, which only provides basic licensing for newly established businesses and does not process specialized licensing on the regional governmental level or for several government agencies.
For now, Darmin said the government will focus on resolving licensing problems on the 1,054 projects to lay a path for cooperation among various task forces in regional governments and agencies.
"The central task force will supervise the investments that have been listed to each ministry or institution," Darmin told reporters in Jakarta
The Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Tourism will handle most of the projects that have been registered to ministries and institutions, the minister said.
The ministries will identify and check permits and requirements to help resolve obstacles as well as to provide periodical reports to the central task force.
The $42.6 billion value of projects in the pipeline could prove critical for Jokowi, who has initiated various national programs to kick-start lackluster growth. The president has yet to deliver on his promise of 7 percent growth, as the economy only expanded around 5 percent over the past three years.
Foreign and domestic investments account for about a third of Indonesia's economy. The country targets to draw Rp 765 trillion ($53.6 billion) of investments — excluding those in the oil and gas and banking sectors — in 2018, up 13 percent from last year's target of Rp 678.8 trillion.
Data from the Investment Coordinating Board showed that total investments reached Rp 513 trillion by the end of September.
Indonesia recorded Rp 613 trillion of investments in 2016, a 3 percent increase from Rp 595 trillion in 2015.
Tags: Keywords: