Beating Dubai, BKPM dreams of processing permits in Indonesia in just 3 hours

President Joko Widodo has frequently criticised the difficulty of obtaining business licences in Indonesia. Jokowi, as he is familiarly known, has even issued the first policy stimulus package, the contents of which all concern deregulation and debureaucratisation. The aim is none other than to make doing business in Indonesia easier.

Jokowi wants to make things easier for both foreign and local investors doing business in Indonesia. He stressed to his cabinet that they must immediately innovate and take breakthrough steps to support Indonesia’s investment climate.

“This limited cabinet meeting is about ease of doing business in Indonesia. The point I emphasised is that breakthrough steps are needed to make investing easier,” Jokowi said at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday (16 September).

Jokowi affirmed that investment convenience must apply to both local and foreign investors. “Everything must be made easier, so that the real economy can move,” Jokowi added.

Although licensing has already been simplified to 25 permits, the time required to process them is still considered long, taking up to 250 days.

President Jokowi compared the situation with Dubai. Following his visit to Dubai, President Jokowi recounted that in Dubai, it takes only one day to process an investment licence, supported of course by state-of-the-art systems and technology.

Franky Sibarani, head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), said he understood President Jokowi’s wishes.

“Yes, the President’s point is how to keep accelerating the licensing process. Some things can already be done in one day, but at BKPM we are working on a process where a principle permit through to establishing a PT takes only three hours,” Franky said at his office on Jalan Gatot Subroto, Jakarta, on Friday (25 September).

However, Franky was not yet able to say when the plan would be realised. “We don’t yet know when it can happen. Dubai takes one day, we would take three hours. Which is faster?” he said.