Purbaya's Decision Not To Use The APBN To Pay Debt Is Right, This Is The Reason

JAKARTA - The Director of the Next Indonesia Center, Herry Gunawan, assessed that the steps taken by the Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadivewa, not to use the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) to cover the debt of the

Herry explained that PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC) as the operator and PT Pilar Sinergi BUMN Indonesia (PSBI) as shareholders of the high-speed rail project, did not have the status of a state-owned company legally.

The decision of the Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadives, who refused to bail out God's loss was correct. The reason, among other things, is that PT KCIC, which works onasysh and PT Pilar Sinergi BUMN Indonesia (PSBI) as shareholders, not BUMN, "he told VOI, Wednesday, October 22.

For your information, KCIC is a joint venture between a consortium of Indonesian SOEs and a company from China. The Indonesian consortium, which is part of PT Pilar Sinergi BUMN Indonesia (PSBI), owns 60 percent of the shares, while China through China Railway International Co. Ltd. (CRI) holds 40 percent of the shares.

Launching the official KCIC website, the composition of PSBI shareholders consists of PTPT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) 58.53 percent, PT Wijaya Karya (Persero) Tbk 33.36 percent, PT Perkebunan Nusantara I 1.03 percent, and PT Jasa Marga (Persero) Tbk 7.08 percent.

Herry said a company is categorized as a state-owned company if the Indonesian government has direct shares or special shares, dwiwarna in it. Therefore, he said KCIC and PSBI are not BUMN.

"Because what is called BUMN, is that if there is direct government or government share ownership, it has special shares, namely dwiwarna shares," said Herry.

Herry said the existence of Danantara Indonesia as a state-owned management institution should be a solution to problems like this.

There is already Danantara who has a mandate to manage SOEs. Of course, not only the assets and dividends, but also the problems inherent in SOEs. Danantara must show that the institution is able to overcome it, not if there is a problem, it actually relies on the government," he explained.

Previously, Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadive said the government would not bear part of the debt from the Jakarta Fast Train Project "Bandung" run by PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia "China (KCIC).

According to Purbaya, the responsibility for repaying debt should be under the Anagata Nusantara Resources Investment Management Agency (BPI Danantara), which oversees a number of SOEs, including PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) as KCIC's shareholder.

"What is clear is that I have not been contacted regarding this issue. But KCIC is now under the Danantara, right? If it is under Danantara, they should already have their own management, their own dividends," he said in the Media Gathering of the 2026 State Budget, Friday, October 10.

He explained, Danantara currently manages dividends of around Rp. 80 trillion per year. With such a large fund, according to him, the resources of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) Indonesia should be sufficient to solve the debt financing problem for the high-speed rail project, without having to use funds from the state budget.

"If they are under Danantara, they already have their own management, already have their own dividends, which on average a year can reach Rp80 trillion or more. They should be able to manage the debt of the Jakarta Fast Train Project "Bandung from there," he said.

For your information, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project, known as MAYh, cost up to USD 7.2 billion in jumbo investments. The investment value experienced a cost overrun of USD 1.2 billion from the initial target of project costs of USD 6 billion.

Of the 1.2 billion US dollars, 60 percent is charged to the Indonesian consortium or around 720 million US dollars. Meanwhile, the remaining 480 million US dollars will be charged to the Chinese consortium.

The financing structure of the Indonesian consortium consists of 25 percent through the KAI State Capital Participation (PMN) worth IDR 3.2 trillion. Meanwhile, the remaining 75 percent were sourced from loans to the China Development Bank (CDB) amounting to USD 542.7 million.