There Is No Budget For Fast Train Ticket Subsidies At The Ministry Of Finance, Sri Mulyani's Subordinates Open Their Voices

Illustration of high-speed trains (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) stated that until now there has been no budget allocation for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train (KCJB) subsidy. This was confirmed by the Director General (Dirjen) of Budget of the Ministry of Finance Isa Rachmartawata.

"The proposal has not yet reached my desk," he told VOI after the 2024 RAPBN press conference, quoted Friday, August 18.

Isa revealed that the ongoing process is still at the Directorate General of State Assets (DJKN) of the Ministry of Finance as the party managing state assets.

"Still at Mr. Rio (Rionald Silaban / Director General of State Assets). Ask Mr. Rio first," he said.

Separately, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir only provided limited information about the discourse on KCJB ticket subsidies. He declined to comment further because the "ball" is currently in another ministry.

"(Ask) the Minister of Transportation (Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi)," said Erick.

For information, the initiative to provide fast train ticket subsidies comes from President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) using a public service obligation (PSO) scheme similar to other public transportation subsidies mechanisms.

Through this government intervention, it is hoped that the selling price of fast train trips from Halim Station, East Jakarta to Padalarang and Gedebage will be IDR 250,000.

Meanwhile, the government's reason for entering to provide KCJB support was due to the assumption of congestion on the Jakarta-Bandung route which reached an estimated IDR 100 trillion per year.

To note, the mass transportation mode was originally scheduled for limited operational testing on August 18. However, the target has shot up and is planned to return to September 22023.