Industrial Estates Urge Formation of Investment Acceleration and Oversight Team
The Indonesian Industrial Estates Association (HKI) is urging the government to form an investment acceleration and oversight team to ensure that investment commitments entering Indonesia can be realised promptly.
HKI General Chairman Akhmad Ma’ruf Maulana stated that the current investment challenge is no longer merely about attracting capital, but ensuring that such investments are not hindered by bureaucracy, licensing, and inter-agency coordination.
According to him, the government needs a mechanism capable of overseeing investments comprehensively, from the initial commitment stage to the point of project operation. “We must ensure that once we have successfully attracted investment, it is not stalled by our own bureaucracy. For this reason, we request that bureaucratic reform be genuinely implemented,” Ma’ruf asserted in a statement.
He assessed that convoluted bureaucracy, lengthy licensing processes, overlapping regulations, and ineffective coordination between ministries, agencies, and local governments remain significant obstacles to accelerating investment. HKI believes these issues are not merely administrative; prolonged processes and a lack of certainty can negatively impact investor perception of Indonesia’s business climate.
Ma’ruf noted that investors consider more than just market size, resource availability, and offered incentives. The speed of project realisation and the certainty of resolving cross-agency issues are also critical factors in determining investment locations. “If licensing is too long, regulations are uncertain, or cross-agency issues remain unresolved, it will certainly affect investor perception of Indonesia,” he said.
HKI also highlighted several proposals for strategic investment development, including Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and National Strategic Projects (PSN), which still require certainty and accelerated resolution. Ma’ruf stated that projects that already possess investors, investment commitments, development readiness, and potential for job creation and multiplier effects need a faster and more measurable resolution mechanism.
“The most difficult aspect for investment is when the process takes too long without any certainty,” he remarked.
Consequently, HKI proposes an investment acceleration and oversight team with a clear mandate to perform ‘debottlenecking’ or to untangle investment hurdles. The team is also expected to have the authority to set completion targets, coordinate ministries, agencies, and local governments, and drive decision-making when a project faces cross-sectoral issues.
Furthermore, HKI suggests the creation of a ‘single point of accountability’ for strategic investments that have tangible commitments. This would ensure investors do not have to move from one ministry to another, or from central to local government, to resolve the same issue.
“We need a team that truly possesses the authority to oversee investment from inception to realisation. Not merely a coordination meeting, but a team that can intervene when bottlenecks occur, bring relevant agencies together, determine who must resolve the issue, and ensure there is a set timeframe,” Ma’ruf concluded.