Business circles in Batam, Riau Islands province, are calling on the government to expedite the planned setting up of a regional management body (BPK) in the area aimed at replacing -- fully or partly -- the Batam Industrial Development Authority (BIDA).
The move would at least provide certainty for businesses, according to the chairman of the local chapter of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) Abidin.
BIDA spokesman, Dwi Djoko Wiwoho, told The Jakarta Post on Monday the plan had yet to be finished due to a number of problems with organizational hierarchy.
"There is no decision yet on how many working units are needed by Batam BPK while the organizational hierarchy is not yet clear," he said.
"All issues are still being handled by officials in Jakarta."
Djoko estimated the transfer from BIDA to BPK would be finished in 2009 although businessmen have urged the central government and BIDA to quickly finalize the transfer.
"There will be clear lines of authority for the Batam BPK to avoid overlapping with the authority of the Batam municipality," he said.
"A number of central government functions such as issuing permits for foreign workers will be transferred to Batam BPK involving the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry."
Abidin meanwhile expects the transfer to be completed sooner rather than later, as efforts to market Batam as an investment destination have always been hindered by bureaucratic and overlapping mechanisms.
Abidin said the central government should finalize the setting up of the Batam BPK and give it full authority.
Riau Islands Governor Ismeth Abdullah said his office had sent a report to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the latest BIDA developments.
All BIDA's assets and employees have been transferred to Batam BPK on Oct. 20 while the central government has yet to take a decision on whether to abolish BIDA, established in 1970 by then President Soeharto to manage Batam as a bonded zone.
"We have reported the latest BIDA developments to the president. It will be the president's decision to abolish BIDA or not as it was created by a presidential decree," said Ismeth, who headed BIDA from 1998 to 2006.
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